Humans VS Titans: Little Soldiers
by Storm-Anime-FFWriter
Summary: Spin-off of Humans VS Titans. Annie Leonhardt's side of the story. (Read Humans VS Titans: Volume 1 first or you won't understand!)
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: April 12, 2017- Wednesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **And here it is folks! Since _Humans VS Titans_ is about to end it's first volume, it's about time I kickstart this spin-off so it'll end fast and then HVT volume 2 can start right away. As promised, the title is Humans VS Titans: Little Soldiers wherein the main character will be no other than Annie Leonhardt. And of course her friends, Reiner and Bertholdt and a little bit of Zeke. I couldn't tag him because his name wasn't in the characters saved.**

 **So yeah, this'll be a prologue for now. A continuation of where the original series left off. If you don't remember seeing this first part that I will simply copy and paste from the last time, it's in Chapter 20.1 from the HVT volume 1.**

 **WARNING! NOT BASED FROM THE MANGA OR ANIME! JUST BY MY OWN IMAGINATION! BACKGROUND STORY, YEAH, I JUST MADE IT UP! SO BEWARE! BEWARE!**

 **PROLOGUE:**  
 _SLAM!_

All groups ran towards the direction of the flare the moment they saw it. Maybe it was because of hope that they clinged to the thought that Levi fired it but deep inside there was this doubt that keeps on telling them that it wasn't Levi. Either way, they hoped. _SLAMS!_

The door slams open and shots were fired. Warning shots. I was able to spot the child they were hiding. She refused to look me in the eyes though so I just smirked instead. This'll be interesting. But looking closer.. there's not really much kids. In fact.. there's only one kid.

"Where's the rest of 'em?"

"There's no one else." replied Lionhart.

"Oh really? No one else? Just her?" I cock my head at his daughter. "You're willing to sacrifice her for every other child's sake?" Lionhart didn't seem to be interested to have a chat with me though. He gave them his deadliest glare. I chuckled and slammed my fist on one of their wooden tables. "Stop messing with me and tell me where the other kids are!"

"..."

"Alright.. you asked for it!"

It didn't take that long for us to massacre each and every friend of his and there I began to see him cower in fear. It was so easy to break him. I thought that it would take longer actually. I kicked him and beat him in front of his daughter. My female friend held on his daughter so she won't interfere.

"Father!"

"Hey pops, you're going to die next if you don't tell me anything!" I warned him. "Well?"

"Please.. please give me time!"

"Hmm?"

"I'll- I'll offer you the greatest soldier you'll ever know!"

"I'm listening."

It must be one of the most disgusting kind of parenting I've ever seen. But who cares? As long as we win.

The man crawled towards his daughter, pulling her from my comrades, I let him take her and gestured at my friends to let the kid go. He then pushed the child towards me while he knelt down. The little girl looked at me with innocent eyes but at the same time full of confusion and wonder.

"She's the greatest soldier?" I asked as I raised my brow.

"T- The greatest one you'll ever know!" he exaggerated. I know he is. "I- I will train her! P- Please spare me!"

Ah well, this is ridiculous. But whatever. "Sure. Give her back to us in three days. We'll put her in training with the other kids." I say, bored. He wasn't as interesting as I thought. But this child though, looking at her stare more closely I can see that it isn't innocence. It was something else entirely.

Her father pulls her by the shoulder so that they can look at each other face to face.

"Annie... I- I'm..." he wanted apologized as he hugged her as tight as he can, but he couldn't. She didn't hug him back. She just stood there like a doll letting him embrace her. "I'm sorry."

"Why is everyone... dead?" she asked without a hint of fear, anxiety or any feelings at all.

"We killed them, kid." I tell her. I wasn't bothered telling a kid that since she didn't seem the type of kid that is bothered by details like this. Just what is she?

"Why? Why did you kill them?" she asked but she remained in her father's embrace. He couldn't lift his face from her shoulder, too humiliated and ashamed as a father who is willing to give her own daughter's life to spare his own.

"They were in the way. We only wanted you." I answered. She didn't say anything afterwards. Just what did she want by asking those questions? This child...

She the returned her father's hug at last. I couldn't see her facial expression because her back was turned to me but I know that she's not showing any form of expression. Just a point blank one.

"It's okay..." she tells him softly. "I love you."

* * *

For three days, that man trained her daughter as hard as he can. I don't know what was on that man's mind. But when I came to pick up the girl, he asked to say goodbye and so I let him.

He hugged her tightly once more. He was crying, he was ashamed as a parent to do this.

"Annie." he says. "Your dad is the only one on your side." he whispered to her. Would the child even believe that? "Annie. I was wrong." he then said afterwards. The little girl's eyes widened as she listened to his final words to her. "It's too late to ask your forgiveness. But there's one thing... I want to ask of you." she listened intently as he spoke. "So promise me... that you will return."

The kid froze.

"I promise... everything will be back to normal once you come back. You, me... we'll live our lives far away from all of these." he added. I couldn't tell if it was a lie or he really wanted that. "So please... please promise me, Annie."

The kid said nothing.

"Annie?"

Her father wanted to see her face, wanting to know if she was angry, if she resents him. The child merely looked him in the eyes with a point-blank expression. She's been that way ever since that night we raided the bar.

He didn't expect her to answer anytime soon, he hugged her once more before letting me take her away. We heard her father's cries from the distance we made from the house, she stopped to see the house once more, still no feelings or whatsoever.

"Do you want to say goodbye now?" I asked if she changed her mind and wants to suddenly say something to him.

"I couldn't make that promise to him." she says. "Because I could die to where you'll take me." she paid no attention to the house anymore and locked her eyes with mine. "I don't want to be a liar like him." those words were filled with bitterness as I sensed it. "I won't make promises I can't keep."

"If you say so, you brat." well, can't be helped. This kid is something, ain't she?

We both walked towards my horse and were on our way to the rendezvous point. So that I can take her to where we train little soldiers we call... Warriors.


	2. Chapter I: Your Inheritance is my Burden

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: April 19, 2017- Wednesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **For some reason I am really, really, really active today. Enjoy now because sooner or later I'm about ti go MIA again *chuckles*, not that I intend to disappear. Schedule will be hectic. For now though, my schedule is so free that I had nothing to do but type. So anyway, the next chap is here!**

 **WARNING! NOT BASED FROM THE MANGA OR ANIME! JUST BY MY OWN IMAGINATION! BACKGROUND STORY, YEAH, I JUST MADE IT UP! SO BEWARE! BEWARE!**

 **Previously:  
** "Do you want to say goodbye now?" I asked if she changed her mind and wants to suddenly say something to him.

"I couldn't make that promise to him." she says. "Because I could die to where you'll take me." she paid no attention to the house anymore and locked her eyes with mine. "I don't want to be a liar like him." those words were filled with bitterness as I sensed it. "I won't make promises I can't keep."

"If you say so, you brat." well, can't be helped. This kid is something, ain't she?

We both walked towards my horse and were on our way to the rendezvous point. So that I can take her to where we train little soldiers we call... Warriors.

NOW:

 **CHAPTER ONE: YOUR INHERITANCE IS MY BURDEN**  
Annie was in the carriage where the rest of the collected kids were. Zeke has been observing her facial expression since they got there and she's been very, very quiet. Her apathetic demeanor ruling over outside appearance and now she's nothing more but a child who looked upset being given away by her father like any other child is. But Zeke knew there was more to it than her outside expression.

She was calm and collected when she left. It was a sign that she was different and somehow, more mature than others.

The young blonde knows and sees from her peripheral that the person who took her from her father has been observing her ever since she got there but she paid him no mind and focused on reminiscing the past. Thinking about her father.

What was she to him? Was she important at all? Was she just an item that he is willing to give away? It was given that his life was on the line but his _friends_ were _willing_ to give their life for her but _him_?

She was burdened at this thought.

Her father's friends (which are not even in the slightest related to her) are ready to give up their lives for her but her father wasn't? Now that was something that will cause her to hold a grudge. But there was something she wanted to hold on to.

The promise her father made her. Or was it really a promise?

She chose to believe so.

Her father's words... she will hold onto it.

 _Flashback:_

 _Three days she was forced to train roughly. It was harsh and he was strict. He was desperate to train her and prove she's a worthy soldier to be offered. She knew that but there was more to it than just being proved a soldier-worthy satisfaction. She just couldn't put a finger to it._

 _"Harder! Kick it harder!" her father shouts at her._

 _She WAS kicking it as hard as she can! Why does he have to shout?  
_

 _"Annie, are you even listening to me?!"_

 _Wasn't she ALREADY listening? She's doing her darned best and heck she doesn't even know why!_

 _"Harder! Don't let the pain get to you!" her father continued._

 _But it was pressuring her! Why does he have to PRESSURE her? What's the rush?! She couldn't say but all she knows is that it was getting annoying. He was annoying. That much she can tell. Out of anger and pressure, she kicked her hardest to his leg instead._

 _She never planned to hurt him. Or want to hurt him. But she watched him fell on the ground and hugged his aching leg that she kicked._

 _It was going to break that's for sure. She expected to be punished after that. But she wasn't. Instead, she was patted in the head and was told to keep it up. Her father forcing a smile in his face and later that day his leg was treated and he was stuck using a crutch to stand._

 _From that day on, she swore never to disobey her father again. Even if he is doing this selfishly._

 _End_

Thinking deeply about her last three days with her father, it wasn't something that she can cherish but it was something she wants to remember. In the future she wants to hold on to something she holds dear. She didn't want to be alone in this dark, cruel world.

Zeke noticed that she sighed heavily, as if the weight on her shoulders just got heavier.

 _What the heck is on her mind?_ He thought.

Then a kid sat beside her, a boy smaller than her with brown hair and freckles in his face. He was wiping tears in his eyes as he sat there. "Oi, don't casually walk around, you might fall over." he warned with a scary voice and looked at the direction where the boy was from, seeing that he was seated with boys twice his size and surely one he can count as bullies.

He looked back at the boy being bullied, then at Annie. Wanting to know what her course of action would be.

Annie glanced at the boy and looks away, as if hesitant to help him out. But then again, as if forced to interact with him, she turns back to him. "Why are you crying?" she asks.

"I- I miss my mother." he says and sniffed.

"Everyone here does. But they're not crying." she points out. It was harsh to say but Zeke internally applauded her straightforwardness.

"T- They said I- I was sold by my mother and she doesn't m- miss me." he says and began to sob again. Annie peeked at the group of boys who are twice their size. She wasn't afraid though.

 _You too, huh?_ She thought. But she reached her hand to the crown of his head and petted him. Similar to what her father would do to her. "It's not true." she tells him even if she doesn't know. "Maybe they said that because they wanted to pull other kids to their situation."

The bigger boys heard it but she didn't care. They stopped their talking to listen to Annie, glaring at her and the small boy.

"D- Does my mother m- miss me then?" the boy stopped crying. It was a relief in her part.

"A lot." she probably lied. She didn't know. How would she even know? When her own father did the same to her. Not particularly sold but given away. Her aching heart was immediately relieved of pain when the boy started to smile again.

"Thank you onee-chan!" he exclaimed and embraced her. He was a small figure but his hug sure is tight.

Zeke saw that the young blonde was stupefied at the result of helping him but he also saw right through the spark in her eyes. She was happy that she was able to offer a helping hand.

 _Ahh, this is something I can work with. This year's recruits will be interesting._ He thought.

When they arrived at their destination, Zeke tells them to follow him. Anyone who plans to run will be punished severely. The boy and Annie kept close together. It was a start of their adventure in this new world after all.

"Follow me and nobody dares slack around!" he shouts and he began to walk to lead them into the place of training.

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter II: Friends

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: May 1, 2017- Monday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I already have several warnings put up already. I won't repeat it here. So this chapter will be more on Annie's childhood, Zeke being the instructor and some random kids joining in. Please don't pay attention to the kids, they're not important much, I just needed them so I can develop the story better.**

 **This will be updated at the same time with the _Humans VS Titans_ volume 1 series. But after it ends, it's just this. When this spin-off finishes, we'll go through with volume 2!**

 **WARNING! Brutal fighting scenes! I repeat warning! Brutal fighting scenes!**

 **Previously:  
** Zeke saw that the young blonde was stupefied at the result of helping him but he also saw right through the spark in her eyes. She was happy that she was able to offer a helping hand.

 _Ahh, this is something I can work with. This year's recruits will be interesting._ He thought.

When they arrived at their destination, Zeke tells them to follow him. Anyone who plans to run will be punished severely. The boy and Annie kept close together. It was a start of their adventure in this new world after all.

"Follow me and nobody dares slack around!" he shouts and he began to walk to lead them into the place of training.

NOW:

 **CHAPTER TWO: FRIENDS**  
The small blonde keeps a low profile, although she made sure the little boy with her was safe from the other kids. Looking around, the system is indeed unfair. The world is... cruel.

Children of different ages, both male and female, are being trained harshly by instructors here and there. Bodies of weak children were scattered everywhere and ignored, no one bothers to help those who are still alive but could no longer stand. Zeke saw the reactions of the kids, same as the older batch, excluding Annie.

"You won't have to go through that yet." he says. "You'll just go through with the basics."

"W- Why are you doing this?" the boy asked Zeke. Although he clutched tightly to Annie's arm. "I- It's very cruel."

"For humanity, kid." was all he said.

* * *

Being dressed up wearing wool gray sweaters, the new batch was taken to a field where they were being informed of what they are and what their mission was.

"Warriors. This is what we will call you and this is what you call yourselves." said the instructor. "Your mission is to fight for humanity."

"B- But the training kills us!" one of the kids exclaimed.

"That's not even training yet!" exclaimed the instructor. "It is simply a test to see if you have what it takes to be chosen!"

"Just a test?" one of the kids said and everyone began to murmur to each other. The small boy with Annie turns to her to see what her response would be but Annie remained quiet, her eyes bored as she stared at nothingness.

"How can this be?"

"What if we die?"

"Why do something like this?"

All these questions... they will not be answered. Annie thought. Then the instructor wields a whip, hitting the ground to get everyone's attention. "You don't have to worry about that now because right now you're only worry is to understand the deep meaning of what being a Warrior is about!"

"Yes sir!" they said in unison.

* * *

On their break, Annie was eating alone in the corner when the little boy approached her happily, holding a book in hand.

"Onee-chan, look!"

"What is it?"

"It's a book! It contains the stories of the inner walls!" he said and opens the book to show her the sketches and writing in the book. "They say it's a story book to scare the children to work hard but I think it's interesting."

"You can read this?"

"Yeah. Can't you?"

The boy studied Annie's eyes locked on the weird writing and focused on the drawing.

"It says 'Trost'. The home of the remaining humans that is trapped in the middle of the ocean." he tells her. "And this here is-"

The two were surprised to see Zeke take the book from them. He clicked his tongue and the boy felt nervous. "Where'd you two get this? Hmm?" Annie kept her eyes on Zeke. If by any chance she turns to the boy, he will be blamed. "Oi, answer me!"

"I found it and stole it from the big boys." Annie said in fear that the boy with her will give in. "They were hurting us, the least I can do is steal something from them."

Zeke intensified his stare at her for a moment but she didn't budge. He sighed and let her off the hook. "This is off limits to any of you, for now." when he said that he left.

"Where did you get that?" she asked the boy with a somehow angered tone.

"I- I- I took it from the boys just as you said." he replied nervously. "They kicked me to the mud earlier and.. and I wanted to get back at them..." when he said this Annie wasn't sure how to react. Did she guess that one right?

She was relieved it wasn't anything scary and so she pats him in the head.

"Don't do it again next time." she tells him and he nods.

But this news didn't reach well to the big boys.

* * *

The following day, the boy was beaten more than they did yesterday. He was cornered and they took turns kicking him.

"Stop it!" he begged but they didn't stop. It was only a matter of time before Annie comes to save him, eh?

"How dare you send us to trouble! You set us up!" they yell at him. "You will pay!"

As they continued to kick him, Annie indeed came to his rescue, beating one of them to a pulp. "Who's next?" she asked nonchalantly and they ran. She dropped her fighting stance and helped the boy up.

"Y- You can fight?"

"Yes."

"Then why did you lose the sparring the other day?" he asked. Annie didn't want to tell him but there was no point i hiding it.

"I don't want to be noticed by _them_."

"But with your ability to fight, they will treat you well!" the boy misunderstood. The 'them' Annie was talking about was Zeke and the higher ups. But the boy can only see the other way around. The bullies.

"Let's not talk about this." she said, almost as if ordering him not to speak. He nodded hesitantly and they went to their respective rooms.

* * *

The day after that, Annie was approached by a couple of other children.

Annie was filling up pails and buckets with water from the well.

"Hey, we heard what you did the other day." they said. Annie said nothing and just stared at them. "You saved someone from a group of bullies and yet you lost the sparring two days ago. You're keeping your true abilities?"

Annie said nothing and continued pulling the bucket out of the well. The tallest among the children hits her hand and grabs her by her hoodie, forcing her to drop the bucket into the well.

"H- Hey Ken we shouldn't be hurting her!" said the little kid beside Ken, the tallest kid in the group.

"We're talking to her nicely but she won't talk to us. Isn't that disrespecting?"

"W- Well..."

"So what's your name?" Ken asked Annie.

"Annie."

"Well Annie, if you don't want me to throw you into the well, learn to respect us!" he says. She didn't nod or anything, just stared emptily at him.

"K- Ken-"

"Quiet!" he yelled at his group and he turned back to Annie. "You, I said-"

"Did you hear about it me from Lothar?" she asked. "The boy that everyone is picking on." she clarifies who Lothar was. She studied his expression for a second before gazing upon his group, noticing that they had sad expressions about it. "Tell me, did you force it out of him?"

"Why are you asking me?! I'm the one in charge here!" he says and pushes her near the well, pressing her back at the top of the well to give her a scare that she might fall in the hole. "I'm the one who will ask questions around here!"

"Questions that will not matter if you're dead." she said, this time her voice indicated a cold and serious tone, her gaze may seem nonchalant but staring longer into her blue eyes he can see an unfazed anger.

"Y- You talk big don't you Annie?" Ken replies, keeping his cool. But Annie can see through him now.

"Ken leave her alone!" his group continued to tell him but he ignores them.

"No one will know..." he muttered and locked his eyes on Annie. "W- We accidentally killed Lothar while we were making fun of him. We forced him to tell us the person who saved him because we needed help. But looks like you won't help us now, won't you?"

"Oh." Annie said.

"That's all you have to say?! 'Oh'?!" his grip tightened on her gray hoodie. She was fearless. She was scary.

"Ken, this time around, I will _accidentally_ kill you and everyone in your group because I want to feel better. No one would know." she says apathetically but despite that, Ken and his groupmates felt shivers down their spine.

"Darn you little brat!" he yells and lifts her up so he can throw her into the well but the next thing he knew was that Annie slid off her hoodie, leaving her to wear a black tank top to cover her body. She then jumps down and roundhouses the side of Ken's head from behind him and he falls over the well.

"KEN!"

Ken was able to grab a hold of the edge of the well but Annie wasted no time. She rushes towards his team and they prepared defensive stances that did not bother her. They were inexperienced, she can tell.

 _Dad's friends died protecting me..._

 _...and now Lothar died because I protected him..._

 _...why is it that everything I do will lead to someone's death?_

Deep inside her head, she was troubled.

And killing these children weren't enough to clear her head.

Breaking their bones and dislocating their limbs, she terrorized them with her capability to fight. She left the other one unharmed, the one who kept calling on Ken. But she was left down on her knees, holding her hands over her eyes, trembling in fear.

"We're sorry, we're sorry, we're sorry..." she muttered repeatedly.

When Ken was able to climb back up, he was surprised to see what happened to his team.

"You..."

Annie stared at him, waiting for him to make a move.

"I guess it's just you I will _accidentally_ kill." she said when she decided not to kill off his friends. In anger, he jumped out of the well to attack her. She ran towards him with equal speed.

She bent her knees a bit as she slides to his side, before crouching, dodging his punch and now sliding her leg to trip him. When he fell to the ground, back first, she leaps and lands the back of her feet on top of his face. His nose bled and he held on her ankle- but that didn't stop her.

She uses her free foot to jump but with his hand holding her other feet, her jump wasn't so high. It's okay, she doesn't intend to run, she just needed to lift her whole body so that her left leg can bend its knees and land on his neck, hard.

His grip loosened and she pulls her feet away from him to stomp on his face again. Blood spilled all over Annie..

"Stop it! Please! KEN!" the girl behind her begged when she saw what Annie was going. The rest of his teammates watched in horror.

Annie stopped.

"If any of you messes with me again, you're next." she warned, expecting never to hear from them again and left.

* * *

That night, she was in her room, all washed up and trying to read a book- this time book that was allowed for them to read. Someone entered the room without knocking, holding out a gray hoodie.

"I believe this is yours." Zeke says and threw it at the side.

Annie's eyes widened when she saw it. She forgot to take it! Now it will lead to her doom!

"Found it over that boy's body. Did you avenge him or something? Because recently one of the top kids just died."

Annie couldn't answer. What will happen to her now? She was nervous but her dead expression was covering it well. Zeke however knew her well enough already. He sighed and sat beside her in the bed.

"Listen, children dying here is nothing new. And if they got killed no one would care." he says. "Although I'd prefer that you don't do that again. Keep a low profile and aim for the top."

"Why... are you telling me this?"

"Let's just say I want you to be a Warrior. I like your spirit, I like your capabilities, I like how you do things your way. There are a few things I don't like but we'll work on that."

"If I... become a Warrior... can I see my father again?"

"If you become a Warrior you will BE a Warrior first. Then you can see your father." he replied. "It's a long way to go so do your best."

 **XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

 **Next chapter we'll see familiar characters! See you!**


	4. Chapter III: Meeting New Friends

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: So I wrote this drafts since May but only was able to upload today. The plot of the Warriors was supposed to be based on the manga but I'm too lazy to edit it again so I will just push through with what I wrote.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER FOUR: MEETING NEW FRIENDS  
** To be a Warrior, these children have to go through a tough training. And it wasn't easy to survive. Just like any other place, there are always those who are superior and those who are inferior.

"You're so tall but you're so weak!"

"Why'dya hafta be so tall?!"

When they hear the instructor calling, they left the boy they were bullying. Little Annie happens to have woken up late that day and was walking towards the rest of the group while yawning, but she laid eyes on the child in need.

"You okay?"

"What does it look like?" the boy replied, sobbing. He sat up, checking his wounds.

Annie knelt down beside him and pokes the red part in his cheek. He screamed in pain of course.

"Ow! What are you doing?!" he pushes her away from him to defend himself. Annie didn't resist his push as she fell backwards.

"It's just a small cut. You'll live." She says.

"Well wow thank you for telling me, that helps." He said sarcastically as he covered the his red cheek with his hand.

"If you're this brave to push me away, why not do the same to those kids who did this to you?" she asked and his brave face turned into a frown.

"I… I'm not strong enough…"

"You're big." She said with a shrug.

"Size doesn't matter if I can't fight!" he shouts. Although he didn't mean to. "I'm sorry."

"I always thought being tall was amazing." She says and the boy in front of her blushed for a moment before he began to laugh. "What?"

"You're weird, you know that?" he said, still laughing. "I'm Bertholdt by the way," he said and stretched his hand towards her. "Bertholdt Hoover."

"I'm not weird." She replied and just stared at his hand. "What are you giving me?"

With that Bertholdt laughed again. He seemed more cheerful now even with his injuries. He takes her hand and shakes it. "We shake hands Ms. I'm-not-weird."

"What for?"

"We're friends!"

"Friends…?"

The first thing that came to mind was the boy she once tried to protect. He ended up dead. Annie yanked her hand back and her face was suddenly frightened.

"What's wrong? Don't you want to be friends?" Bertholdt asked when he noticed she changed mood.

"I… no… it's just—"

"Are you afraid of me? Well I doubt it. Despite my size I am a very easy to be hurt." He joked, hopefully to ease her nerves. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Which, I also doubt I can do."

"It's not that…"

"Then what is it?"

"People who befriends me… they die." She hesitantly tells Bertholdt.

He chuckled shortly. "What are you? Some curse? I won't die because I befriended a pretty—I mean, you." He blushed and looked away. "Sorry. But you know, if you're uncomfortable with me, maybe you'll enjoy it when you meet Reiner. He's a jolly kid but he's the one who always protected me."

"Where is he?"

"He's taking a physical test or something, I don't know." He said and shrugged.

Maybe she was just overthinking it… what could happen?

"HEY WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING THERE?! GET IN LINE!" the instructor calls on them.

"Want to go together?" he got up and offered his hand to her. "It's okay if you still think you're cursed and not make any friends."

Annie stared at his hand for a while. She reached for it and he helped her up but she didn't let go.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"My name is Annie."

Bertholdt smiled. "A pleasure to meet you, Annie."

On their break, Annie was eating alone, it was her usual routine after Lothar died but then she was surprise to find a blonde boy with a healthy build sit beside her.

"Mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"No."

"Thanks!"

The boy was shorter than her and he had a big lunch with him. She could tell he smuggled it from the kitchen or something. She doesn't want any more trouble so she was about to leave the seat but he held on her arm.

"Don't go."

"I don't want trouble." She tells him.

"I didn't come here to cause you trouble." He assured her. Hesitantly, she sat back to her seat. "I'm Reiner. And I heard you helped Bertholdt this morning."

"You're _the_ Reiner?"

"Oh he mentioned me? Surprised aren't you?"

"He said you left because you'll be taking the physical test today." She says. "And for someone he said 'saved his life', I thought you were… well, bigger."

Reiner laughed at this statement. "You dare judge my height!"

"I- I'm sorry."

"Well don't worry. I'm sure I'll grow much taller than you when I hit puberty." He added. "You can count on it!"

"O…kay."

"You know, you're pretty cool. You're not like the other kids here. No wonder he said that you're—"

"Aaaah Reiner!" Bertholdt almost dived to stop Reiner from speaking. His face was all red as he succeeded in covering Reiner's mouth. "Please don't listen to his ranting, sometimes it's full of nonsense!"

"Are you okay?" Annie asked when she saw his red face. "You look sick."

"A- aah, well you see…" almost as if smoke was coming out of his nose and ears, he turned away from her.

Reiner rolled his eyes at the two. "I think he has a fever." He commented and pulled Bertholdt near him so Annie could reach. "Can you check?"

Annie reached for his forehead and definitely Bertholdt's hot meter reached its maximum. "Wow you're really hot!"

"A- Annie, you got it all wrong." Bertholdt tried to tell her.

"But your face is all red man!" Reiner teased.

"Yeah. Do you want to go see a doctor?" Annie asked, worried.

"I- I'm really okay!" and his nose bled.

"Waah! What happened to your nose?!" Annie reached for both his cheeks to take a good look at his nose.

"I- I'm fine please don't mind me!" but the more he said that, the more his body was 'malfunctioning'. Reiner was internally amused at the moment.

But while she was trying to help Bertholdt, Zeke came.

"Annie."

The three kids stopped goofing around and looked at the instructor. Bertholdt shivered, Annie was nervous, Reiner was careful. Zeke cocked his head to the exit and left.

"I have to go." Annie said and hopped off the seat but Reiner stopped her.

"I don't like the vibe he's giving off." He warns her. "He's been taking kids and they never come back, you know?"

"If I don't come back then you've proven your point." She tells him and she left.

"Reiner…"

"Don't worry. I have a feeling… Annie is not the type to die without a fight."

The small blonde ran out of the cabin and searched for Zeke who was waiting for her by the side of the cabin, his hands in his pockets.

"Did I do something wrong?" she asked.

"You're quite lively today, meeting new kids." He says. "Haven't you learned your lesson yet?"

"Please don't kill them."

"Tch, who do you think I am?" he said and walked towards her. "Listen kid, I've been keeping an eye on you just like every other kid here, and the way you're acting right now, you'll die without getting a chance to go home."

"Am I not allowed to have friends?!"

"I'm just saying… if these boys die, what will you do? Will you kill again?" he said. When Annie said nothing he stopped. "Alright, go on."

Later that night, Annie was in her room, writing letters to her father. Letters that were never sent. Things were a lot harder than she thought. Surviving was easier if she were alone but… she won't reach far alone.

Sneaking out of her room and into Zeke's office, Zeke was startled.

It was the first time Annie had entered his room. Moreover, the first time she snuck in.

"Getting better at infiltrating I see." He compliments.

"Can I… ask if it's alright to send letters outside?"

"You went all the way here for that? Why not ask me tomorrow face-to-face? We could be in huge trouble here kid."

"I want to send my father something. Let him know I'm okay." She said, ignoring his cautious warning about getting caught.

"You talk to me as if we're pals. Listen, I'm not nice to you or anything, I need someone who can inherit a titan's power and somehow I have a feeling you're the right one. That's the only reason I'm helping you, nothing else." He repeats.

"I know. You said that already."

"Then stop being this way."

"Then stop helping me."

Zeke was confused that earlier she was asking for help and now she's not? It was a confusing thought… but as he think about it, the kid was interesting indeed.

"Alright. One letter. I will give only one letter, nothing else. After that, we'll act like we don't know each other, is that a good deal for you, kid?"

"Yes."

The following day, Annie was surprised to find an 'ambush' prepared for her by some kids she doesn't even know or have ever seen before.

They started to beat her for a minute or two then ran away.

It was odd but she let it slip.

But in the afternoon, on their break, she was attacked again. Same pattern, same people. They attack in surprise for a minute or two then runs.

The same event went on for days. Zeke noticed but didn't stop them nor did he interfere.

The little blonde took her lunch alone, hidden in a corner, not wanting anymore attacks.

"Hah!" a certain blonde boy startled her, causing her to pull his arm and flip him over. "Ow!"

"R- Reiner! I'm sorry!" she apologized when she realized it was him.

"Y- You're jumpy today, what's— up?" he saw that she was trying to cover her cuts and bruises in her face with her hoodie but it was too visible to be hidden.

"Annie, what happened?" Bertholdt asked, worried.

"N- Nothing."

"That can't be nothing. Did someone beat you?"

Reiner hits his friend by the shoulder. "Obviously! She can't just fall down the stairs and gain those injuries!"

"R- Right sorry Annie."

"But seriously, tell me who did it and I will teach them a lesson!" Reiner said as he smashed his fist to his palm.

"I- I lost in a sparring practice. That's all." She lied.

"Want me to teach you some moves then? I'm pretty good at punching." Reiner offered but Annie shook her head. When she heard the instructor calling them to line up, it was her cue to leave.

"I have to go! See you guys tomorrow!"

When she left, Bertholdt was left staring and Reiner hits him in the back.

"Ow!"

"You worried Bert?"

"Something's up."

"I know."

What was going on? She didn't know. But she went to investigate that night. Sneaking out of her room again and peeking from room to room, gathering intel on what the kids were planning.

Unfortunately, she was caught by one of the instructors who was doing his rounds.

"Hey kid what are you doing here?!"

Escaping the instructor, the following day, the assault and ambush got worse.

At one time, she tried to fight them off, grabbing one kid's ankle, she pulled it until the kid lost balance and fell. The rest of the kids pinned Annie down to help their fallen friend.

"Wait! I just want to ask a question!"

She tried conversing with them but they said nothing.

"Why are you doing this?!"

Again, after a minute or two, they run. She tried to chase them but they ran separate ways until they've escaped. She was left clueless but this time… angry.

She didn't want to tell Reiner or Bertholdt… no way.

In her room, she was washing her wounds. It hurts, yes.

Knock, knock!

Annie quickly wore her hoodie to cover her wounds and ran to the door. It was unusual someone would knock at this late hour, if they were soldiers or instructors they'd just barge in.

Must be someone else.

When she opened the door, it was Zeke with a teasing smirk. "Evenin'. How's the new treatment going?" he asked.

"Did you… tell them to—"

"oh no, don't get me wrong but that's not me." He said. "I just can't believe you haven't discovered it yet." It was a small hint but Annie knew quickly who he was pertaining to. He smiled in satisfaction when she quickly got his message. "See the pattern?"

"She's… spreading rumors about me…" the girl she didn't kill back then. To avenge Lothar.

"That was you when the kid died. That will be you again if those boys are killed. And you're gonna keep on living that way if you don't throw it away."

"Throw what away?"

"Humanity, kid." He replied. "It's the humanity in you that is causing you to react to these feelings. Envy, anger, hatred, all of it."

"I thought you're training Warriors to fight for humanity. Why throw it away?"

"You can't win a war without sacrifices."

"I don't understand… you said you will treat me like any other kid here… yet why are you telling me all these now?" she takes a step back from him.

"Whoops, you got me." He said and chuckled. "I broke my own rules." He added with a shrug. "Well then, I'll let you rest now. I look forward to see what you'll do tomorrow."

"I'm not throwing away my humanity!"

"We'll see…"

Zeke was surprise the following day to hear news about a death battle. A group of children fought with each other and no one survived. He hurried to see if Annie had somethng to do with it but in his surprise, the small blonde was unaware.

 _It wasn't her. Then who did it?_

He was about to walk away when suddenly he had a glimpse of two boys running towards the little blonde.

 _Interesting…._

He observed them carefully, to see if his conclusion was correct.

"Annie, are you okay?" the two asked.

"Did you two… have anything to do with it?" she asked, almost terrified to know.

"Do with what?" Reiner asked. It was either he was playing dumb or he really didn't know.

"Nothing."

"We just hurried to you because usually by this hour you are missing." Bertholdt explains the reason they were looking for her.

Zeke smiled.

 _These boys are also interesting…_ he went back to his office to continue his reports. _Reiner Braun, Bertholdt Hoover, Annie Leonhardt, Marcel… the kids today are interesting._

A year later… in a city away from the training grounds… it was a rainy night.

A figure enters a bar that is lively and full of men here and there, drinking and gambling. The figure was soaked from the rain and walked towards the counter to ask for a drink.

"You lost kid?" asked the bartender.

"I heard I can find shelter here. Can I stay?" the figure asked and bartender knew that she was no ordinary customer.

"At the back. Stay quiet." He whispered and she left to run to the back and find the kids and the rebels, she began to beat the few adults in the group.

She defended herself, not killing them but breaking a bone or two.

"Where are the rest?" she asked one who was near her.

"A father will never compromise for the safety of his family." Was his words that struck a nerve to the small blonde. "Seeing how young you are, I take it that your family gave you away."

"Yes, not all fathers… are the same."

She left them without further words but she was surprised to see her instructor arrive with three other boys who came and killed the men she did not kill. The children are captured.

"You're too soft, Annie-chan." He said. "Why didn't you kill them?"

"That wasn't the mission."

"They could've spread the word about us, warn others or even recover and fight back. A lot of possibilities if you don't tie loose ends."

"I'm sorry."

"I don't take apologies, Annie."

When the three had finished their job, the blood from their hands were washed away by the rain. Bertholdt approaches Annie with concern.

"Did they hurt you anywhere?"

"I'm fine."

"You four go home and rest. The biggest infiltration is about to begin." Zeke explains. "Tomorrow we're all going to Paradis Island and begin the mission of Warriors."

"Yes sir!" the four said at the same time.


	5. Chapter IV: Little Spy

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER FIVE: LITTLE SPY  
** Arriving at the hometown in the forest after their long travel, the four were taken in by the elders and treated well since they claimed to be orphans.

Giving them a room to stay in until they decide how to manage the kids, the four stayed in the room to discuss the plan.

"Okay so we need to be quick and precise about this." Marcel said, as the leader of the group, "Do you guys know your roles?"

"Yeah."

"Yep."

"Can we get this over with?"

"We're going to infiltrate Trost by breaking through their first wall." Marcel explains. "We need to find the Reiss family and retrieve the Coordinate from them."

"If they are nobles then they are most likely located inside Wall Sina right?" Reiner tried to guess.

"What if they no longer have it?" Bertholdt asked.

"Then, with all our power, we must find it. As Warriors who pledged their lives for Marley and for humanity, we cannot go home without it."

"I'll see what I can gather from the walls of Trost." Annie says as she got up.

"I'm coming with you." Bertholdt volunteered and was about to walk after her but she stopped him. "What?"

"I'm faster when I'm alone." She reminds him.

"Yeah but this is the real thing. If you get caught you'll die." Bertholdt said, worried.

"I'm just a child. What possible death awaits me?" she teased and Bertholdt felt at ease with that in mind. She just have to act and everything will be alright.

"Okay, then reunite with us to report what you got." Marcel agreed. "Meanwhile, Bert, Reiner and I will concoct the plan to destroy those walls without having to use all shifters."

Sneaking out of the village, little Annie later found herself being chased by titans. She ran away from them as fast as she could. As much as possible… the use of titan shifting abilities must not be used.

She didn't want to use it. She didn't want to turn.

Horses trotted nearby and later she was saved by Survey Corps that were traveling, gathering supplies and looking for survivors, expanding their territory.

The small blonde wore her hood as she was taken to ride one of the horses and they traveled. She planned to escape later but it was a good ride to infiltrate the walls.

"Look there's smoke over there!"

"Hurry! Let's take a look!"

Annie followed the trail from where the smoke was coming from… it was from the direction where she was sure the hometown was.

Her heart began to beat rapidly.

Reiner… Bertholdt… Marcel… they were still there when she left. She was worried for them… if they were alright.

When the Survey arrived at the hometown, she saw that it was covered in fire. Everything was burning, survivors ran here and there, victims are gutted down by the titans or already burning.

She kept an eye for her three friends, to see if they escaped.

"Stay here kid." The soldier told Annie as he got off the horse.

 _So… this was death in Paradis Island._

Disobeying direct orders, she hopped off the horse and ran to the house where she and her friends were told to stay by the elders. It was already burning in flames.

One of the people with the Survey noticed she was running towards the fire and was afraid she'd jump in so he grabbed her and pulled her back. "Hey, hey, that's hot. Keep distance." He tells her while his arms wrapped around her to keep her from running.

"My friends…"

"We'll find them." The man tells her, hoping to ease her mind. Then he pulls her away from the terrible sight and carried her to ride his horse.

Annie looked around, seeing that Survey soldiers were helping and carrying victims to ride horses with other Survey Corps. But not everyone gets to ride.

"What are you going to do?" she asked the man who was securing her to ride his horse.

"We're gonna stay here for a while, see if we can find more survivors." He replied. "But you, you're going to a safe place."

"There's nothing safe here." She said out of the blue. She was supposed to act like an other kid, but there was no helping it.

He chuckled shortly and softly and held on her hand, putting something in there. "Take it."

"What is this?" she opened her closed hand to see a silver ring. "A… ring?"

"It has a little pointy thing here." He showed her how to do it then gives it back to her. "If you don't find it safe, then just use that to hurt whoever is going to hurt you."

But she refused to accept it. "I'm a stranger to you. Why are you doing this?"

The man chuckled again and pats her in the head. "Why are you questioning every single kind deed others do to you?" he asked. "Is there always something in exchange of kindness?"

"I don't believe something is done without anything in exchange." She replied, but she wasn't supposed to. After all, this is what she's learned from the cruel world where she was from.

"Well you could say it's a gift. No strings attached." He said, raising both his hands in surrender. "If you don't like it, I could give it to other kids."

She stared at the silver ring in hand then wearing it. "I'll keep it."

"Okay then."

"Grisha, no time to chit chat with every kid you meet. We have work to do." Keith Shadis said as he calls on Grisha.

"Sorry." He said to Keith apologetically. Then he looks back at Annie. "I'll see you when I get back."

Traveling with the Survey group, Annie was quiet, she was thinking… these people… they're not evil… they're actually kind of nice? It was unexpected. If she were trained like hell a year ago what for? These people didn't look like they're bad or anything.

While stuck in thought, she didn't notice they've arrived at the walls. She stared at it in awe, it was huge indeed, just like the ones in the books.

As they entered, there was a crowd of civilians and soldiers waiting at the same time. They hurried to assist and treat the wounded. Why? Why all the training as if there's war with them?

Annie was carried to unmount the horse and led towards the rest of the kids they've saved. She followed the flow as she saw it. One by one the kids are given a hot meal.

She looked around, seeing how the kids ate, some were happy, some were sad, some couldn't eat, some just stared, some were with their family… a tragedy. She was too caught up with them that she didn't notice something warm touched her forehead.

Startled, she looks up seeing a woman smiling at her.

The warm bowl of soup touched her forehead.

"Let all the pain go away for now." She says. "Focus on eating and recovering your strength."

She gulped. Was it poisoned? Was it a test? What was it? She just stared at the bowl being handed to her. The woman noticed that instead of fear from titans, frustration from separation from her family, sadness and pain, the child was acting differently.

It was as if, she was wary of everything.

As if she was new to the world.

"Hurry and take it while its warm." She insisted and smiled. "It's better to eat it while it's warm, you know?"

The small blonde took it from the woman's hand and blew on it.

 _What is wrong with these people? They're acting like… like everyone is their friend, they're nice to people they don't even know…_

It was ridiculous. The people that Annie met so far… are ridiculous.

Later they were led to the Guest Hall where they wait until it is determined where they will be transferred. Annie blended in with the kids but stayed a distance from them. She didn't want to interact with these people any longer.

They are beyond her comprehension.

There was some sobs, silent wailings, murmurs and whispers filling the hall. Until some small blonde boy stood by the center.

Annie stared at the blonde boy, seeing that he was holding something in his hand. A ball.

 _Now what? A performance?_

In her surprise, that blonde boy cheered everyone up with that ball. The very heavy and gloomy atmosphere from earlier was gone. And there wasn't a trace of it.

She was annoyed. Annoyed to the point that she wanted to kill everyone…

 _Why is everyone acting this way? Why despite all that pain and sadness… it all went away because of him? Why are all these people so friendly with each other? Isn't it every man for himself? Isn't it survival?_

While questioning herself why people are not how she expected them to be, she was surprised to see that the blonde boy was now beside her.

"Hey. Don't you want to play?" he asked. Annie chose not to answer. _Play? Play what? What's that?_ "I'm Armin." _I didn't ask for his name, why is he telling me that?_ "Are you not into these things?" the boy was beginning to get in her nerves. "I'm honestly not into it too. They say I'm too fragile to join and play sports. So I would usually just sit at home and read books."

"That must be really boring." The words left her mouth before she could notice it. She remained apathetic though. But she noticed the clear shock in his face.

"Not entirely. I mean—I love to read books." He said. _He loves to read too… just like 'him'. What is so special about books?_

"Why?"

"I learn from it. It tells me things that I don't know about." _Books don't teach you the truth…_

"Not everything in books are reliable. Some of it are lies created by humans." _Just like the one 'he' showed me._ "Since we live in a cruel world filled with enemies we can't beat, flocking us like herds in a prison, humans created an illusion for themselves."

She noticed that somehow he had confused expression about this. About what she said.

"M- Must be right." He answered still. "But one of the books I read is made by my grandfather. I'm sure it's all based on his experience and adventures. He's been through the outside world."

 _Has he? Then shouldn't he know what it's like to live like I do? Shouldn't he know the cruel world there is outside? Shouldn't he have told you everything by now? The truth beyond your so called Walls!_

"He must've created an illusion of his own then." _Your grandfather must've lied to you._

"What are you saying? My grandfather would never lie." Armin says.

"Just because he's your grandfather, doesn't mean he wouldn't lie. In the real world—the outside world, those who are close to you are the ones that lie to you."

"What are you saying?"

 _I said too much already! I- I should be more careful next time!_

Clang! Clang! Clang!

 _Whew, saved by that weird sound._

"You should go." Annie tells him. _If I say too much, we'd both be in trouble._

"Will I ever see you again?" _what is it with this kid?_

"I don't really have anywhere to go, do I?"

"I- I guess so."

"Armin! Armin come on, let's go!" a brunette boy called his friend as he approached them. Annie just stared at him, not wanting another conversation with another kid.

"Your cue." _Just leave!_

"Y- Yeah." _Please leave._ "What's your name?"

Stare. _He's seriously not gonna leave?_

"Armin let's go! Hannes will escort us home." Eren called.

"Right." Armin said but Eren already arrived by his side, seeing that he was speaking to Annie.

"Hey there. I didn't see you play earlier. Didn't want to sweat on a game?"

"Not interested in playing one." Annie says, hoping that she'd end the conversation and have her peace. But Eren didn't stop asking.

"Any friends around?"

"They're not here."

"Are they still alive?"

"I hope so."

Annie can see that Eren was getting irritated that she ends the conversation fast. It was her win. When the two looked away, she left them before she was questioned once more.

 _These people are really annoying… why are they all so… nice? Why are they not like the place where I came from?! Why aren't they wary of me?!_

Despite this confusion, as a Warrior, she knew she had a job she will have to uphold. A mission she has to finish in order to return home.

"I will kill you… all of you."

That night, while everyone was asleep, Annie was staring at the silver ring Grisha gave her. It was the first time she received a gift from anyone. Not even her father gave her anything… as far as she can remember.

"Father…"

She put the ring back in her finger when she was later surprised to see Grisha appearing in front of her. She was startled but kept quiet.

"I'm surprised you didn't scream." He says. "I knew at first glance that you weren't normal. Did 'he' send you?"

Annie didn't answer. Was it her end? Did she compromise? Did she waste too much time? Where did she commit the mistake? How did he know?

Grisha saw how nervous she was when he asked.

"I'm sorry, I should've not asked you that. I probably just missed him so much." He said. But then decided to change the topic. "You miss your father?"

Again, she refused to speak.

"Now you don't want to talk to me?"

"…"

"You know it's okay to give in with your shield sometimes." He says and sat comfortably on the floor, leaning in the wall, keeping a small distance between them. "I learned that the hard way."

She said nothing and observed his expression, seeing that somehow he was nostalgic.

"I once helped a rebellion outside of these walls. I had a wife, a son. I was so desperate to win and I didn't notice that my son was hiding his true feelings about my obsession to win." He says. "That's why… you shouldn't keep your own feelings hidden as well."

He chuckled when he saw how seriously her blue eyes are staring at him.

"You sure are an odd kid. You stand out too much for someone who is doing an infiltration." He says. "I—"

Without warning, the little blonde jumped towards him to choke the life out of him but he wrapped his arms around her, keeping her from hurting him and herself.

"Tell my son… 'I'm sorry', for me." He whispered in her ears as he kept her in an embrace. Annie quickly discovered who his son was.

"He doesn't accept apologies." Annie informs him. At last she spoke. Grisha was relieved. If he can manipulate her, then he can get to him using her.

"I never knew how much he changed since I last saw him." He commented.

"I can… help you meet with him if you want." She offered. She always wished 'he' would've offered the same to her… to help her see her father again… so maybe, maybe if she sets him up, then maybe, she can go home again.

The two both had ulterior motives talking to each other.

And the two had an agreement that night.

The following day, Grisha went home, with Annie following him without him knowing, she was right outside the house, peeking at the window, seeing his family.

 _That boy was the same one back at the Guest Hall!_ She thought when she saw Eren being hugged by Grisha. Then a woman enters the scene. _T- That's the same woman who fed me yesterday!_

Grisha and his family were all familiar… a group of people who showed kindness to her. No, a family. Family. Not something she enjoys at the moment… for some reason she felt a pang in her heart… she was jealous.

She missed her father. She wants to go home.

Home.

The only way she can go home is to finish their mission.

When she remembered what she had to do, she left and snuck outside the walls, running, running, not looking back. Looking back will bring back short memories about those kind people.

She doesn't need it.

She doesn't need them.

She has her own family waiting for her. Yes, that's what she believes in. Staring at the silver ring in her hand as she got far from the Walls… she flipped open the pointy part and scratched herself.

Turning into the Female Titan, it cried. And cried and cried. Then she saw the Colossal Titan in its Aberrant form, running towards the Walls, carrying dozens of normal titans in its hands and threw it towards the walls.

The Garrisons who were guarding the Walls were caught in surprise as the normal titans flew their way. Then the Colossal Titan kicked a really big boulder towards the Walls.

The boulder crashed to the Wall, making a hall in it. The Female Titan then looked behind her seeing countless of titans who heard her cry. She ran towards the walls to lead them there, when she entered—so did they.


	6. Chapter V: Little Soldiers

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER SIX: LITTLE SOLDIERS  
** When the Female Titan entered, the Colossal Titan roared, as if calling for her but she did not turn around. She just found herself entering the Walls, seeing how the assault began from the top of the Walls and now it spread.

No matter how many times she told herself she didn't care, she didn't need them, she had to know… if these people will be alright.

Garrisons began to target her but later their focus was redirected when they saw the number of titans following her. She ran and ran and got back to her human form to refrain the soldiers from targeting her.

But being human means… being targeted by titans.

She watched the horror of humans getting eaten alive, pain and wailing everywhere. The sun was setting and the sky was red, as if it were blood. Too caught up with the environment, she was pushed aside by a woman.

"Look out!"

The little blonde watched as a titan bit on her ankle while she struggled to live. She kicked the titan, hit it with a stick—POINTLESS!

She takes the stick from her hand broke it in half and jabbed it in the titans head then the other half in its nape. Blood splattered all over her, she killed the titan without feeling anything. But then the woman pulled her close to her arms.

"Are you okay?" she asked and checked if Annie had any injuries. "Did it get you anywhere?"

"You're that same woman… from yesterday." She muttered when she recognized Karla. "Why… did you save me?"

"It's what a mother would do to any child in need." It wasn't a question worth asking but somehow Karla saw the confusion in her eyes. As if she was bewildered by this act.

"I did not call for help."

The woman smiled at her and wiped the titan's blood from her face. "Even so, a mother can hear silent cries of a child. I know right now my son is going to look for me, that's why I have to find him. It's a natural instinct of a parent to know."

She smiled wider when she finished cleaning Annie's face from the titan's blood. But Annie did not understand this. _Why? Why does every parent keep saying these things… as if my father was the only one different…_

"We should hurry before we get caught up in a bigger mess." She says to Annie to drive her out of her thoughts.

 _This woman… is crazy._

"You're infected! You're going to die soon!" Annie shouts at her in case she didn't realize that. "What's the point of surviving?! What's the point of smiling?!"

"I want to see my son again. Tell him I love him. Tell him to live on." She replied. "He's a stubborn one and I don't want him to sulk when he doesn't find me."

"But isn't it painful to know his mother is not coming back?! Because she's going to become a titan?!"

Karla cupped Annie's cheeks, hoping to calm her down. It did. She smiled at Annie again. "I will always be with him. Even after I'm gone." She said and places her hand to Annie's chest. "Right here." Her heart.

 _This woman is too kind… and yet she's been fated to an end like this. The world really is… cruel._

"I'm sure your family is also with you until now. They live here as well." She added and felt that the little blonde's heartbeat increased its speed. "They never left you."

Karla was surprise to hear Annie sob and ran to hug her. She returned that hug. "I will… take you to your son." She whispered.

"Huh?"

"I promise… that you will see your son again." Annie refused to say promises before but right now… she felt that she needed to. For the sake of this woman… a victim of the cruel world.

"Thank you."

 ****Arriving safely at the side of the pier, Karla wanted to see inside the boat if Eren was already there. But the Garrisons wouldn't let her in.

"Mom!" Eren shouts when he saw her.

"Eren."

"Please you have to let her in!" Eren begged the Garrisons.

"She can't. It's too risky!"

"She'll be fine! My Dad is finding a cure for the Titans! He can cure her!"

While Eren was arguing with the Garrisons, Annie was watching them from afar. She did her part. She did as she promised and yet she felt like she wasn't satisfied with it. As if what she did wasn't enough.

 _Why won't… they let her in? Didn't she help when they were the ones in need? Why now, they won't even grant her one last wish, to be with her son?_

"Eren please listen to them." Karla said. Annie was again confused. Why the heck is she refusing to go in now?!

"Mom please don't."

"I'll live off somewhere and find me when there's a cure. For now, I want you to live."

 _Why is she promising something she cannot fulfill? She'll die and revive as a titan. A mindless one._

"Mom I love you!"

"I love you too."

"I won't leave you! I won't leave you!"

When Karla was left behind, she ran to a nearby house to hide herself from the titans still roaming around Shiganshina. Annie went to her.

"Why didn't you join the boat? Get rescued?" Karla asked. She couldn't move her leg anymore.

"What are you?" Annie asked. "How could you agree to be left behind? You won't stand a chance here."

Karla was confused herself with how this kid has been acting. It was as if… she's not like the other kids. Like she came from somewhere else. Somewhere outside the walls.

"Like I said before, it's what a parent is."

"You told him to find you when there's no point to find you! You could already be dead by the time he finds you with a cure!" she shouts, as if scolding Karla that it was wrong to promise what she can't do.

"What's your name?" the woman asked out of the blue.

"What?"

"So we can properly talk."

"Annie."

"Annie. My name is Karla." Karla sighed as she leaned her back to the wall of the house. "Can I ask you something, Annie? Did you have anything to do with today's attack?" she asked and Annie realized she acted once again out of character.

She was supposed to keep a low profile! _Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!_ She repeatedly told herself when she's been made.

"Why?" Karla asked and Annie wasn't sure what to do. Their mission had just begun and yet many people already knew her secret.

 _If 'he' were here… he'd beat me again… I have to… fix this myself_.

The little blonde looked around and saw a knife on the table. She takes it and points it at Karla. Everything will be over in a flash.

"Annie?"

 _Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Kill her. Kill her. She will talk. She will tell everyone about you._

"I see." She said and closed her eyes. "It was nice meeting you, Annie."

 ****Annie was walking towards the Walls to exit through the hole the Colossal Titan made. Shiganshina was abandoned and there were no living souls anymore.

Until someone grabs her by the arm and pulls her inside a house.

Waving the knife she's holding towards the person who grabbed her, she stopped halfway when she saw it was Zeke.

"I'm sorry." She said and puts the knife down.

"Good job infiltrating the First Wall." He said and the boys behind Zeke clapped their hands. A small celebration.

"We did it Annie!" Reiner says and places an arm over her shoulder. "Next stop, Wall Rose!"

"H- Hey Reiner, not so close!" Bertholdt tells his friend, noticing how close they are but Reiner pulls Bertholdt on his other side to give his two friends a hug.

Zeke said nothing and watched the three, well, Reiner initiated the celebration. The small victory they had.

"And everyone was screaming and aah!"

"It was scary at first but Bertholdt did well." Reiner says.

"Wait, where's Marcel?" Annie asked when she noticed he wasn't around.

Silence.

"An aberrant titan ate him." Reiner answered sadly.

"I'm sorry."

When their celebration was cut short by the mention of Marcel's name. Zeke sighed out loud and pats both Reiner and Annie in the head.

"The mission will continue in memory of him." He says.

"But what will we do now?" Bertholdt asked.

"Infiltrate the Military, join anything, do what you must to gain access to more information regarding the Reiss family." Zeke answered. "If they no longer have the Coordinate then we have to find a clue somewhere else."

"Yes sir!"

But as the three saluted him, he noticed that Annie had bandages wrapped around her left arm.

"You had a problem turning into the Female Titan?" he asked.

The two boys looked at Annie, noticing just now the bandages in her arm. Her long sleeves have been keeping it hidden.

"Yes." She replied.

"Don't push it too much if you still can't control it well." Bertholdt said, worried that next time she'll inflict bigger wounds on herself.

But Zeke… was suspicious.

"Alright, have a great night then. I'll head back and report of your progress. For the meantime, keep a close eye on the Attack Titan."

"Attack Titan?"

"It's a dangerous titan. I don't know who possesses that ability for now but if ever you are to discover who it is, let me know."

"Yes sir!"

.

.

.

.

As soon as Zeke had gone, the three had a night for themselves. Their small victory triumphed over Marcel's death, although they were still sad.

"We'll join the Military in a few years." Reiner says optimistically.

"Sounds scary." Bertholdt said.

"It's like déjà vu all over again, Bert. No need to worry. Whatever training they give us, we've been through it already!"

"Yeah but their training may be different from us." Bertholdt said. "Did you see those things wrapped around their waist?"

"Yeah, pretty cool right?"

"It looks dangerous!"

Bertholdt was lying down in between Reiner and Annie. While they were talking, Bertholdt noticed that Annie was awfully quiet.

"Hey Annie, are you okay?" he asked then sat up to see that she was already asleep.

"Is she crying?" Reiner whispered. "Quick, do what I told you. The Move!"

"S- Shut up." Bertholdt hits his friend. "She's just sleeping."

"Oh, I've read about it too. Five ways to wake up a girl." Reiner joked and Bertholdt used his pillow to hit Reiner in the face.

"Not funny Reiner, let her sleep."

"Okay, okay." He threw Bertholdt's pillow back at him and looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling had a hole in it so they can see the sky very well. The dark sky.

"Hey Reiner… do you think one of us will have to die next?"

"Idiot, don't think like that. No one is going to die." Reiner says.

"But even if we have this power… Marcel…"

Reiner sighed and faced his friend. "I know. But we have to be strong. You, me, Annie. Nothing can break us apart."

"Promise?"

"Oh no, wait, wait, I think I got infected somewhere." Reiner says and Bertholdt was worried that Reiner's hand was moving oddly. "Look out!"

The two rolled on the thin bedding they were lying on, pushing each other and trying to find each other's weak spot, awakening the small blonde who startled them.

She had a knife pointed at them with her breathing ragged as if she were being chased.

"H- Hey we're sorry to wake you." Reiner says. "I take it you had a very bad day."

Annie sighed and dropped the knife. Twice now she almost hurt her allies. First Zeke and now Reiner and Bertholdt.

"I'm sorry." She said. Bertholdt takes the knife and puts it away.

"Did something happen when you left?" he asked.

"The people here are crazy." She tells them.

"Yeah, you got that right." Reiner agreed. "I can't wait to get back home."

"Me too." Bertholdt said.

"I… want to go home too." Annie followed.

"But you know, as long as the three of us are together, it already feels like home. Right?" Bertholdt said all of the sudden. Reiner smirked and internally teasing him. "What?"

"Oh nothing. It's just, are you sure it's home when it's the three of us? Or just—"

Berholtdt threw his pillow again Reiner's face. He swears if Reiner speaks again, he will turn into a titan and teach him a lesson.

"For real… I feel happy when I'm with you two." Bertholdt said as he hugged his knees.

"We'll always be together." Reiner said and wrapped an arm around him. "Right Annie?"

"Yeah."

"The awesome trio!"

"You're terrible at nicknames Reiner." Annie commented.

"Hey!"

Bertholdt smiled at his two friends. They were already family to him. Being with them feels like home already. He was happy that they were around.

 _Annie… maybe one day I can confess to you._

Reiner teased Annie and grabbed her by the neck to mess with her hair but he ended up being thrown off the thin bedding with his head landing first.

"Remind me not pick a fight with you ever again." Reiner says as he rolled back to the bed, massaging his head.

"I won't apologize." Annie says with her arms crossed.

"But it hurts!"

"You started it!" Reiner says and tackled Annie.

Bertholdt stopped his trance and decided to join his friends. He can't possibly miss this experience. To enjoy and have fun for once. Even just this night… it counts.


	7. Chapter VI: Training Days

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER SEVEN: TRAINING DAYS  
** Five years later, they joined the Military as planned. Reiner and Bertholdt have grown. So did Annie. But it was part of the plan, not to interact with one another as Marcel told them once.

Keith Shadis was yelling at recruits here and there. She remembered clearly that he was there with Grisha back then. She spaced out a bit but got back to her serious face before Shadis passed by her. The last thing she needs right now is to get anyone's attention.

Annie later eyed five late recruits who had just arrived.

"You're LATE." Keith tells them.

"We're sorry! We had to take a detour and—" Eren tried to explain but Keith grabbed him by his jacket and scolds him.

Annie recognized him the moment she saw him. Grisha and Karla's son. How could she forget this guy? _If he's here then his friend…_ she turned to the other late recruits seeing a now grown Armin. _He joined as well._

"Yes sir!" the recruits said in unison.

"Good. Now where was I?" Ketih said and turned to the five. "Introductions. State your name and your reason for wanting to join the Military."

"Connie Springer! I'm the strongest in the village and I decided to contribute my services in the Military to help my village!"

"Sasha Blouse! I am one of the best hunter in our village an I want to improve more to be the best hunter!"

 _They joined because they want to. Not because they were forced._

"Armin Arlert! I want to help humanity see the outside world!" _what's with his reasoning? It's far different from the earlier two._

"Mikasa Ackerman! To serve humanity is my goal until the end!"

"Eren Jaeger! I WANT TO RELEASE HUMANITY FROM THIS ROTTEN PRISON BY KILLING ALL THE TITANS THAT LIVE IN THIS WORLD!" _G- Grisha, you're son is a weebit too much on his resolve._

Annie refrained eye contact from them and focused on Shadis. She can't afford to be recognized right now. Not by Armin and especially not by Eren.

Later after their first day, Annie was out doing her rounds to eavesdrop for any information she can get from Shadis and the other Survey members.

It was already dark and she was on her way back to Reiner and Bertholdt to tell them what she's discovered.

"Well then, let's go meet this Reiner and get our stomachs filled." Mikasa said and everyone followed Krista's lead.

"Wait!" Armin yelled, finally arriving. "I'm hungry too!"

But his friends already reached far and he was too tired to run. He falls on the ground, holding his aching stomach. Annie remembered that he said he wasn't good at sports. Meaning his endurance was terrible.

 _Why did he join in the first place? He'll end up dead before he can get a chance to fight a titan on his own._

"Eren! Mikasa! Connie! Sasha!" he called again but they were gone. "Please…"

Annie sighed. _I guess I can spare a minute._ She approached the blonde boy to give him some food she stole earlier. She was supposed to eat it with Reiner and Bertholdt but hearing that Eren and company were going to Reiner, she won't be able to see them this night.

She made sure not to get seen by Armin and left after leaving the food by his side.

"Thank you!" he yelled and started to eat. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" _I get it, just shut up and eat._ "My name is Armin!"

Annie stopped walking away for a while. _I know_. She thought before disappearing in the dark.

The following day, Annie woke up early to sneak out of the fence and continue her little data gathering mission. When she got back, the recruits were already sparring with each other.

 _Crap I'm late!_

She snuck back in and hopefully blend in with everyone else. She was startled when Reiner called her. Well, in a way.

"Hey shorty!" Reiner calls. She refused to look at him. "Annie!" _What now, Reiner?_ "Won't you entertain us while you're at it? You don't seem to be interested in participating in any activity anyways. So why not just help us train? Be the body bag here?"

"Oi oi! Reiner that's enough!" Eren says.

Annie didn't know what was up with Reiner that morning. But if he's picking a fight with her, then a fight she'll give. "I'm too small for a target. Why won't you make yourself useful and stand there while the rest of us use you as target practice."

"Oh wow, you've got big guts to talk to me like that for such a small girl." Reiner said.

 _Ah, it must be the challenge he said years ago._ Internally she facepalmed but blended in with Reiner's little game.

She sent him a glare to show him she's seriously gonna give him a good beating for this. "And you've got such small balls for a big guy."

Reiner mentally tells 'burn!' to himself. Complimenting Annie's comebacks. He threw a punch at her without warning but as usual, Annie had the upperhand.

Reiner dropped dizzy on the ground with a terrible posture. Similar to one when he was a kid. Eren gulped and looks at Annie.

"I- I'm sorry about that Annie. I didn't mean to—" Eren tried to apologize but Annie ignored him and walked away. Seeing his reaction now, he doesn't recognize her at all. That was great.

Armin though…

After training, Annie was waiting for Reiner by the shed, with Bertholdt. The two were sitting beside each other, leaning on the shed.

"Reiner's taking his time." Bertholdt said to break the silence between them. "I saw you threw him earlier. Did he pick a fight on you again?"

"He wanted to tell me he got taller than me now." Annie said. "Probably remembered that challenge he said years ago."

"Hmm… I do remember he was the smallest among the three of us."

"Yeah."

Bertholdt was about to lean forward but then Annie turned away from him, hushing him before putting stretching her leg towards the side and Reiner comes and trips.

"That hurts." He said, grunting as he sat up facing his two friends.

"You're late." She says and Reiner gives her a thumb's up. "I won't apologize."

"Of course you won't. Neither will I then!"

"We shouldn't do this." Bertholdt said before the two will exchange banters again. "I mean, we shouldn't meet up with Annie anymore."

"Huh? Why? We do this secretly anyway. We'll be like a broken family without her." Reiner says. But he noticed Bertholdt was acting strangely.

"People might see. Then our cover is blown." He replied. "Besides, Eren and the others keeps on interacting with you. It'll be strange if you disappear from time to time."

"Yeah but—"

"You're probably right." Annie said, not wanting to risk their cover.

"We'll see each other still." Bertholdt tells them the good side. "I mean, without the talking and the joking. Just until we finish undercover."

"Are you sure man?" Reiner asked. He knew that his friend has feelings for Annie and now he's the one suggesting that they don't interact with her?

"Yes."

The next day came and they were taught to use the 3DMG. Annie remembered back then that they had a conversation about it. How to use it. How Bertholdt thought it was scary. She missed it but remained from even looking at them.

For the sake of their mission.

Reiner noticed however that Bertholdt was the one glancing at Annie and distracts him by dragging Bertholdt to interact with other people.

Annie was noticed that Eren and Armin weren't around until later.

 _Quit it Annie. You're not going to interact with him any longer._

But while practicing on her own, she accidentally glanced at Armin, seeing him smile at her before purposely dropping a crumpled paper as he, Eren and Mikasa left.

She was hesitant but was reeled in by that crumpled paper, seeing that it was a letter, telling her to meet with him tonight.

 _You're not meeting with him, Annie! It's going to compromise everything!_

Despite her mind telling her not to, she went to a place near the place Armin told her he'd come. She sat on top of an empty wine barrel, holding a loaf of bread to eat while looking up at the sky to think.

 _If I decided not to come, why am I here? What an idiot._

She scratched the back of her head, she was early! He wasn't even here yet. Or probably because sneaking out of her room was so easy. Why did she agree anyway? Why did she come?

While thinking about it, she find herself a bit lonely with Reiner and Bertholdt not interacting with her anymore. She couldn't tell them anything because they had a mission to do. Her feelings will not matter.

"Hey." Armin greeted when he arrived. She didn't show up at the designated place but still she was around.

Annie stared at him. Thinking. _Is it alright to actually think that… we can be friends?_

"So what have you been up to?" he asked. She swallowed the piece of bread and looks up at the sky. Refraining eye contact with him.

"Why are you here?" it's funny to ask since he was the one who invited her out. But she pretended that she didn't know and that she never saw his letter. Armin bought her act.

"I thought that since you're here alone, you'd want some company." He replied. Pretending that the letter he dropped also never existed.

"If I want some company I would've been in my room with my roommate. You don't owe me." Maybe he saw her after all.

"You gave me food. Even if you stole it, I don't mind."

"Are you trying to get close to get access to more food? Because if you are, Sasha's your girl." Jumping to the wrong conclusions, she wanted to misdirect him from forming right conclusions.

He laughed. Annie wondered why.

"Annie right?" he asked. Annie was nervous that he knew her name but she nodded nonetheless. "I'm not here for any purpose of using you for my own benefit. I just want to gain friends, that's all."

"Friendship doesn't last in this career." _What an idiot. How could you be thinking of friends at this point?_

"What do you mean?"

"People die. Everyday. You meet someone today, tomorrow you meet someone new. Getting to know a comrade will just hurt you once they die so I suggest we keep it this way." It was based on her own experience… it hurts.

He smiled. She was confused. Everyday these people are confusing her. Their beliefs are opposite from hers.

"You're nice, Annie. I know how it feels to lose someone close and it definitely hurts than seeing a stranger die. But what's more painful than seeing someone you know die is seeing someone you could've known to die. Sure one of us will die sooner or later, but at least we got to know someone we won't regret to remain in our hearts forever, right?"

 _You're an idiot like me, huh?_

"You throw that speech as if dying was simple. Read it from a book somewhere?" She remembered he loved reading books.

"W- Well, yeah. I really meant to quote from it but—well—I—"

Annie saw from behind Armin some Survey going to the office she's been waiting to open. It was going to be a long night for her so it's best to leave. She placed a hand on his shoulder to make him stop.

"I was just asking." She tells him. Seriously, she wasn't gonna sue him for it.

"Oh."

"The night is cold. I want to get some rest." The best lie she can come up with.

"Wait, you read books too?"

But Annie already hurried to follow the Survey, leaving Armin hanging. _Sorry Armin… I can't afford to waste my time with you. I have a job to do._


	8. Chapter VII: 104th Squad

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER EIGHT: 104** **th** **Squad  
** When training days were over, they were sent on a field test. Annie was grouped with Mikasa, Marco, Ymir, Thomas, Nic and Connie while Reiner and Bertholdt were in the other group.

Once again she was separated from them. How sad.

Everything was going smoothly as they travel.

"Aw, I can't believe Krista was on the other group. With that guy." Ymir muttered.

"Relax, it's not like Reiner is gonna let a single titan go near her." Nic tells her.

"Yeah. He's one of the top ten you know?" Thomas added.

"Did you see how much he drooled over Krista last night? It was gross!" Ymir says. Annie listened to their conversation, hearing that Reiner must be having a pretty good time then.

She was relieved. She thought that maybe there were sad just as she was but hearing it from her comrades, they were having fun.

"I'm not happy I'm not with Eren either." Mikasa says. "But it's part of following direct orders."

"Well said Mikasa!" Marco exclaims.

"What about you? Aren't you said you're not with Jean?" Connie asked, teasing him.

"I know Jean won't be sad if I'm not there. So I won't let it affect me." Marco replied.

"Oooh."

"What about you Annie? Anyone you miss?" Marco asked the quiet one in the group. He can't just ignore her, she's part of the team.

"Huh?"

"Anyone you miss that isn't here?" he asked again.

The first face that popped in her head was Armin but immediately she cleared her thoughts. "N- No one." She tried thinking about Reiner and Bertholdt but she just remembered that Reiner always pick on her while Bertholdt would jump in when their fight was over.

 _What a way to remember them._ She tells herself.

"You're such a loner. You should make friends you know?" Connie said.

"Yeah lots of friends!" Nic says.

 _Is 'gaining friends' all these people would ever think of?_ She wondered.

"We're almost there." Mikasa announced when she saw that they were near the forest. "Get ready."

"Yeah!" the team said, excluding Annie.

At the end of the day, they found out that the other team encountered titans, although none were hurt, everyone was of course worried, this time, including Annie.

She wanted to talk to them but seeing how the two are surrounded by everyone, there was no way she can talk to them without anyone noticing that they knew each other, so she decided to leave.

 _They seem fine anyway._

After both teams have succeeded in passing the field test, it was a toast for celebration for the 104th Squad. Annie watched everyone enjoy themselves, including Reiner and Bertholdt.

Reiner and Bertholdt were with Krista and Ymir. She can see the look in Reiner's face every time he speaks to Krista.

 _She must be that girl Ymir was talking about. One that Reiner likes_.

Annie can choose to mingle with them and act normal but… there's no way. There's no time. She wants to go home. Just as they do.

 _I have to get back to work._

When she left, she wasn't surprised that Armin saw and followed her.

"Isolating yourself again?" he asked.

"What do you want?" she had to cut contact with him as soon as possible. She can't… keep interacting with this guy.

"If you feel out of place, you can join us at our table." He offered. _Funny, I was thinking of doing that earlier._

"I'm not into these things. Might as well take off and sleep." She needs to turn him down no matter what he says.

"Then I'll accompany you." But Armin was persistent. _How will I get rid of him?_

"You should try reading a book that tries a different angle when offering a girl something… at least do that afteryou serve your friends." She purposely mentioned his friends so that he'd look away and she'd use that opportunity to leave.

As her days in the Military continues, they are later assigned to try the job as a Garrison. She was paired up with Eren Jaeger on night duty.

 _Of all people!_

When Annie was on her way to her shift, she bumps into Berthldt. She didn't notice him.

She was about to say something but then remembered NOT to interact with them. So she kept on walking. When their backs were facing each other, Bertholdt stopped walking to tell her, "Tonight. We'll continue."

Then he walks away.

 _Of course._

When she arrived on top, she made it a point to herself not to interact with Eren. No matter what. But this caused Eren to react to her cold treatment.

"You know, we shouldn't sleep while on duty. Don't you feel like this is getting too dull? I mean, we'll be here for a couple more hours before the morning shift arrives."

 _I gotta hand it to you, Jaeger, I applaud your terrible way to start a conversation._ She thought.

"If you're getting sleepy, go get yourself a coffee." She says.

"Okay, if I'm too boring then why won't you try and talk to me? Eren suggests.

 _Funny you said that._

"I didn't say that."

"Then at least tell me something! We've been partners for nights and every night it's the same. Silence!" but Annie only gave him an unsympathetic stare. She can hold it in. Her remarks, her comments… she has to hold it in. "Great. There you go again. You're just like this kid I met when I was young. She's so hostile and such an arrogant wench."

 _W- Was he talking about me?_

"I wonder why you'd call her that way."

"Because when she was talking to Armin she was all nice and friendly. But when I was the one who approached her, she went all 'I don't want to talk to you, period.'"

It's going to take a lot more of Annie's inner strength to prevent herself from commenting on that one. To joke, to laugh… darn!

"Armin is nice. He doesn't talk about me behind my back." She hinted instead, wanting to amuse herself to see how Eren will react next.

"Wait! You're—?!"

"It was Armin' idea, wasn't it? To catch the kids' attention and play ball." She teased further and boy was Eren's expression enough to pay the price of her little compromise.

"No way! Does Armin know?!" When Eren asked, she realized she was actually revealing her identity to them. She had to stop this.

"Who knows?" she said and shrugged. _Darn it Annie! You're such an idiot! Idiot! Idiot!_

"How long has it been since you recognized us? And why didn't you say anything?!" he was still in shock. Annie was enjoying but she had to stop.

"On our first day. You guys were late. I wasn't sure at furst but, he proved I was right."

Eren snickered. "You know, I thought he was just the one crazy about you. But it turns out you feel the same way."

 _What is he saying?!_

"I just treat him the way he treats me." She said, staring at him to hopefully make him stop talking about Armin.

"A- About that 'arrogant' description," Eren began to say nervously, "that's nothing personal."

"Really now?" she was about to get carried away again when suddenly a Survey yelled.

"OPEN THE GATES! OPEN THE GATES! HURRY, OPEN THE GATES! WE'RE BACK!"

Annie forgot that Bertholdt told her about their attack tonight. Mentally she scolded herself again for her failure. It was just like five years ago, she almost missed the first attack.

 _I have to get out of here!_

"It's the Survey Corps. They're back." Eren says.

"They don't look good." Annie didn't intend to say it out loud as she saw them.

"Come on, we need to do something."

"We're lookouts." _Don't drag me with you Jaeger, I have things to do!_

"I know that! But those are soldiers that are wounded and they need help!"

"If you know anything about medical, I won't stop you, Dr. Jaeger." Unintentionally she hinted she knew his father. She wanted to slap herself by then but she had to keep it cool. She was sure Eren wouldn't notice since he was hyped to help. "There are other things that we can do to help." She added to get his attention away from her first comment.

Eren looked back at the riled up soldiers below. Annie was relieved he didn't say anything from her comment earlier. "Annie… are you ready for this?"

 _I hate it that you have to ask._

"Lead the way, Jaeger."

When Eren jumped off the wall, Annie didn't follow and instead went the other way. She had other things to do than join his stupid resolve to annihilate titans.

She bumps into Reiner who was with Krista and Ymir and Nic. It wasn't a surprise.

"Annie! Where'd your partner go again?" Ymir asked.

"Eren's gone rogue again." She said, pretending that Eren left her behind. "I'm gonna get some gas. Go keep an eye on him."

"You gotcha!" Nic said and led the way. Ymir and Krista followed his lead. Reiner eyed Annie shortly before leaving to follow the rest.

Annie ran outside the walls, hiding in the shadows. Where was Bertholdt?

"Guys! There's one helluva Titan that's really big down there!" she heard Nic's voice above.

She looked at the direction he was pointing at, seeing that Bertholdt was in his aberrant form, _What is he planning? Reiner doesn't seem to know of this, does he?_

Canons began to fire at the Colossal Titan but he was unaffected by their attacks. Annie hurried in her normal titan form to the forest to gather mindless titans to follow her lead. But on her way back she saw that the Colossal Titan was punching the Wall.

He made large holes on the walls.

"NIC HOLD ON!" she heard Eren yell.

 _Bertholdt don't!_

"EREN!"

The Colossal Titan's fist slammed towards the wall again and this caused Nic to fall to his death while Eren was saved by Mikasa and Armin.

"NIC!"

"EREN!"

Annie watched as Marco tried to save the falling Nic but there was no hope to it. Nic landed with a splat and was devoured until he was gone.

The Colossal Titan looked around before disappearing, shedding its titan skin and returning to its human form. The Female Titan stared at the holes he made, worried of how they were going to fix it. It was just like that time…

Seeing young Eren cry and his mother…

That time she wasn't able to do anything. But this time… this time around… she stared at her titan hand, imagining the silver ring there. When she reverted back to her human form, she stared at the ring for real.

 _I'm only doing this because I owe you…_ she reasoned to herself as she used the pointy part to make a long scratch all over her left arm.

"With this much damage, I don't think my plan will work anymore." Armin said.

"We have no choice, let's help everyone evacuate." Reiner said and left. Ymir and Krista followed him.

"No other plans, Armin?" Marco asked.

"Well—"

Now turning into the Female Titan, she used her hardening ability to began to shed titan skin. Her roars were heard from where Armin and Marco were. Titan skin melts from her and she molds it into a circle before throwing it towards the walls—the holes.

Reiner saw and recognized those 'melting rocks' and had a hunch Annie was behind it. But wondered why… why was she covering up the holes?

"ARMIN!"

When Annie heard his name, she stopped and saw that he fell from the walls.

"ARMIN!"

 _Armin!_

When Armin lands on the ground, he broke his leg from his fall. But he was frightened in seeing Nic's remains up close. He screamed.

Annie observed as Armin fearfully defends himself with trembling hands from the titans. If she had no choice, she would've jumped in for his rescue but then…

"EREN!" Mikasa yelled.

The small blonde watched as the brunette boy shifted into a titan—the Attack Titan.

Reiner himself stared in shock when he realized they found the Attack Titan. They will report this to Zeke as soon as they meet with him again. Annie's shock however, was more of that she's afraid of what could happen to Eren.

Seeing now that Eren fainted beside Armin, Annie returned to her human form.

"Eren.. thank you." Armin tells his friend.

 _Why did I ever get myself involved with them…_ Annie thought as she watched them from the forest.


	9. Chapter VIII: Path to the MP

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER NINE: Path to the MP  
** Eren was later confined because he exposed his titan shifting abilities. Annie and the rest of the 104th Squad were in a separated room where they are gathered and one by one interrogated by Erwin.

Annie was shooting glances at Bertholdt and Reiner to see their reaction about the matter but they seem to be very careful not to return her gaze so she sighed and remained in the corner alone, hearing whispers and chatters about Eren being a titan.

The small blonde was sure Reiner and Bertholdt were thinking about the same thing… they found the Attack Titan and they have to report it to Zeke.

However, for some reason, Annie didn't want to do that.

She just watched as Jean freaked out as usual, spouting things about Eren, Mikasa defending Eren, the usual arguments. _I wonder if Bertholdt was mad… because I helped Eren protect Trost…_

After hours of waiting, Connie and the others had already left the detainment room, leaving only Armin, Jean, Mikasa and Annie inside. Reiner had just exited the interrogation room and gave Mikasa a worried look. Annie wasn't sure if that 'worried look' he's giving is sympathy for what happened or sympathy for what he's about to do.

"Eren doesn't sound to have a good life after this." He says and Mikasa's attention was caught, her eyes darted at him, her body tensing up.

"Why? What did they say about Eren?" Mikasa inquired.

"I heard they're handing him to Hanji-san for a little experimentation, but if the King declares for his execution, they have no choice but to comply." Reiner replied, Mikasa was enraged with this, getting reckless all of the sudden, grabbing the hilt of her blade and stomped towards the interrogation room but Jean was quick himself and grabbed her by the arm.

"Don't." he said sternly. "You'll make things worse for him and yourself."

While Jean stopped Mikasa, that very short period of time was enough for Reiner to shoot Annie a glare and walk away normally. Annie realized Reiner said that not because he cares for Mikasa, but because he's sending Annie a warning.

That she will be sent to Hanji to be experimented on, or worse… to get executed.

She wasn't scared. Or was she? Annie felt nervous knowing Reiner knew of what she'd done. They're friends yes but if she's jeopardizing this much of their mission then they… they might never be able to see home.

Was she wrong to help?

Was she wrong to do things her way?

Was she wrong when she did what she did?

Calming her nerves, she looked around, seeing a serious blonde boy thinking.

"Thinking of a good book to quote for your friend?" she asked, snapping Armin out of his angry thoughts.

"U- Uh not entirely." He replied.

"So you're not entirely focused of saving him from his terrible fate?" she continued to ask. She wanted his help—no, she wanted to know something from him.

"Well.. there are other mysteries that happened that same night. Like where those melting rocks came from," Annie was nervous, "or that huge Titan or how the Titans are able to ambush us and follow Captain Levi back here.. there's so many mysteries!"

 _I– I see. But I can't talk with you about all those things, that's a LOT of stuff!_

"Considering these are all big-shot mysteries, they're not big enough to trample Eren's case." She says. She wants to know what Armin will do… how far Armin will go… for Eren.

"Annie.. can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Since I kept this whole Titan shifting secret from all of you.. what do you think of me?"

The small blonde blinked for a moment there. _I remember I was the one who wanted to ask you something. But in any case… I guess I'm the one who can answer my own question._ When she noticed that the blonde boy was about to add a follow-up sentence, she hushed him with a finger on his lips.

"I understand why you kept that a secret so I won't hold it against you." _I… I have a secret myself, one that I can't tell you or anyone here._ "Everyone here keeps a secret. It's not dangerous when you tell others, it's more dangerous when others find out before you tell them."

 _Talk about acting like a hero…_

"Arlert you're up!"

Armin was startled. _A scaredy cat_. Annie was glad Armin didn't see her smile shortly at this amusing sight. Armin turned to Annie, as if asking her for permission and Annie nodded at him.

When Armin is led out of the interrogation room by Shadis, Shadis then calls out Annie's name and Annie and Armin had a short eye contact before passing by each other.

"Annie Leonhardt, recruit from 104th Trainee Squad, are you aware of Eren Jaeger's titan shifting ability?" Erwin asked.

"No." she answered straight up.

"Did you notice anything odd about him in your time with him? Assuming that you hang around with him that is."

"No, I didn't notice anything."

"Hmm…" Erwin scanned the files about Annie for a moment then leaned back to his seat. "You don't talk much with others, do you?" he said but Annie said nothing. "Any friends?"

"Isn't this question irrelevant to the case?" she said, putting a stop to whatever Erwin was planning to ask next.

"Yeah well overall recruits that I questioned, you're the only one who didn't even take a minute to keep me silenced." He commented. "I find it interesting… for someone like you to exist."

 _What does he mean by that?_

The smirk on his face was fairly visible to the blonde but she refused to react to this.

"Well if you're not up to for a chat then you're dismissed." Erwin said at last. He watched Annie got up her seat and headed towards the door, "I hope next time you're open for a talk."

At the day of the trial, Annie silently watched in her seat. She can't have anymore attention on her. Reiner and Bertholdt or even that Erwin!

"Eren's always been in humanity's side! And now he's given an ability to actually be able to help humanity win! And that ability is to become a titan shifter!" Armin ended his speech.

"And what if he has no control over his titan body?" one of the people in the courtroom asked.

"He HAS control over it! And it has been proven twice now! Back at the Field Test.. without him and his titan ability, Reiner's squad would've experienced a casualty! Majority gasped at the revelation. "Yeah, we _cheated_ our way to victory on that test! And the second time is when Eren jumped to save me when I fell over the wall."

Murmurs and whispers filled the place.

Annie wasn't talking to anyone though, she was more of, arguing with herself internally.

 _If back then I had a friend like you then maybe… maybe I wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't have to do what I'm about to do…_

 _I probably could've lived a normal life._

 _A 'normal life'… what a joke._

"Eren Jaeger is the Survey Corps' prisoner until he graduates. He is a useful asset for us and if ever he poses a threat I'll kill him myself." Levi announced. "So if anyone has problems with that, you answer to me."

Everyone kept quiet when he spoke. Annie looked down, not wanting to watch any further. The trial was done for sure. Eren… will not be executed nor will he be experimented on.

 _You're wrong, Reiner. That's not what Eren's fate is._

When Eren was released from detainment, Annie was at the warehouse taking her dinner when suddenly they began to hype up, knowing they'll just be jolly and talk about things, she got up and left before things got worse.

She was alone to her usual spot but she could hear their cheers and laughs from where she was.

Looking up at the sky, she was thinking about her father. Her childhood… it was nothing like this. Training wasn't anything like this either.

"You missed dinner." Armin said when he found her. Annie couldn't expect more from him.

"I didn't. You just didn't see me." She replied.

"So which part of the Military are you joining?"

"Military Police." It didn't take long for her to answer. It was… part of the plan.

"Military Police? Why?"

 _Why Armin? I don't know… maybe because I have to capture your friend, bring him to my hometown as my ticket back to my father. Is that unforgivable?_

It sounded easy to say, but it's better not to say anything like that.

"I want to live." She said, hoping that her answer being the same with others would satisfy him, but she was wrong.

"You're a great soldier, Annie. I don't understand." He says after grabbing her hand and not letting go. Annie refused to look him in the eyes and kept her back facing him.

 _Why do you keep reaching out to me? What did I ever do that made you want to talk to me all the time?_

 _But if you don't understand, then let me tell you._

"Every soldier has a goal. An inspiration. A sense of purpose. But most of all, every soldier has fears."

"And what is your fear?"

"What's yours?" she asked back.

"What?"

 _If you're not gonna answer, then let me tell you your fear, Armin._

"You're afraid to die, aren't you? So am I." she says. "But the difference between you and me, Armin, is that I'm a coward and you're not. Despite being afraid when titans come, you didn't let it stop you from joining the Survey." She finished her answer and finally was able to pull her hand back. "Now there you have it. Goodbye."

 _I can't believe I admitted to him I'm a coward…_

She thought as she left.

Being admitted to the Military Police, the first thing she was given was a room and a roommate. Then basic trainings on patrol duty.

"Hi I'm Hitch Dreyse, a pleasure to be your acquaintance!"

"Sure."

"Hey that's all you have to say to me?! We'll be together for years, you know?!"

"Assuming we're both alive for years." Annie tells her and leaves the room after throwing her bag to her bed. Hitch had twitches in the side of her head after hearing this.

She stomped after Annie and strongly smacking Annie at the back of the head. The small blonde was caught in surprise by this attack and she stumbled forward, landing on a fellow recruit.

"HOW DARE YOU ASSUME THAT WE'RE BOTH DEAD ALREADY! LIFE HAVEN'T STARTED YET!" Hitch shouts across the hallway.

"Hey get off me!" Marlowe shouts when he and Annie fell on the floor. Annie got off him as she massaged the back of her head.

"S- Sorry. I was caught off guard when my roommate attacked me out of nowhere." She says.

"HOW DARE YOU SAY I'M THE CULPRIT!"

When Marlowe was able to have a good look at Annie's face, he blushed almost immediately and looks away, ashamed that he yelled at her earlier. "S- Sorry. I mean, I shouldn't have yelled at you without knowing what really happened."

Hitch was about to throw another attack but Annie, this time, was expecting it.

She rolled off Marlowe and Hitch slaps the air instead.

"I was only telling the truth, Hitch." She tried explaining to her angry roommate.

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO STRAIGHTFORWARD?!"

Marlowe beamed at the two girls. Looks like joining the MP was the right decision he made.

While they were being taught about patrol duty, Annie was yawning as she walked in boredom, following the instructors and the group, gradually falling behind if it wasn't for Hitch who was keeping an eye on her.

"Annie! Get your feet together and don't get lost!" Hitch scolds. "Geez! If you weren't my roommate I would've left you already!"

"What about it if we're roommates? You can get another one when I'm gone." Annie tells her.

"I SAID STOP WITH THAT DYING NONSENSE ALREADY! We're both gonna live, we're gonna have a happy life together and meet our man, we'll both get married together and get pregnant together and our children will have the same birthday!"

"O- Okay I get, please stop."

But while walking, Annie happen to overhear some of the high MP talking with Nile about the Survey expedition happening tomorrow.

She wanted to hear more but then Hitch pulls her by the ear.

"ANNIE! Did you pay attention to anything I said at all?!"

She tried escaping but there was no point in following the Survey if Hitch was always dragging her everywhere. It was a new environment that she had to deal with.

Nights were her only chance.

When Hitch was asleep, she sneaks out of the room to gather information about the expedition since she missed it.

"Baby titans! Yes! We just discovered baby titans!" Hanji continued to exclaim as she happily compiled her reports.

"Y- You can stop that now four eyes!" Levi shouts out of annoyance. She's been saying it out loud over and over since the expedition. He could've endured it if she weren't saying it THAT loud!

"Why not? It's a great discovery for humanity! I'm just celebrating!

"Why you…!"

"Besides even the captain is happy isn't he? That these recruits are leading us to new discoveries…" Hanji teased.

But all of the sudden, Levi pushed Hanji to the side as he draw his blade out and slashed at the crates nearby. The bottles of wine shattered and the wine spilled all over the place.

"What was that for, Levi?" Hanji asked.

"I thought I sniffed a rat hiding nearby." He said and put his blade back to its case.

"Man you really hate rodents do you?"

But what Hanji didn't know is that Levi had a feeling there was someone around. Annie sure was relieved that she was small or her head would've fallen off. She sighed and went ahead.

Entering Bertholdt and Reiner's room, Bertholdt was already asleep while Reiner had been waiting for her.

"I thought you'd never come." He said. "I would've waited outside but we can't afford to get caught."

"First day on the Military Police was tough." She informs him.

"Even in the Survey." He tells her back.

"Do you… plan another attack?" she asked, wanting to know how she can redeem herself from last time's failure. Reiner looked back at sleeping Bertholdt then back to Annie.

"Wall Maria. This time I'll be destroying parts of the walls for more titans to enter and hopefully overwhelm the guards."

"I'll be there."

"I don't count on it."

"But Reiner—"

"When we met you, you were different from other kids. You were strong-willed and you don't hesitate to protect those dear to you. In return, we protected you as well. We protected each other and lived." Reiner said. "But right now you're not that person."

"Reiner…"

"Come talk to us again if the Annie we knew has returned."

At the day of their attack, Annie was geared up, ready to join the battle and then Hitch tells her that Military Police was needed to assist on the attack.

Good. Then she can join the battle and sneak away from the group.

Upon arriving at the wrecked city, she hurried in search for Reiner and Bertholdt. Separating herself from the group as planned. She found Reiner alright but she finds him chasing after Sasha, Connie and Hannah.

 _Don't save them. Don't save them. Don't save them._ She repeatedly tells herself.

She watched as both Connie and Hannah used 3DMG and got away safely but the poor potato girl had a broken 3DMG, thus causing the Armored Titan to reach for her and end her.

 _Screw this!_

Annie hurried and grabbed Sasha and swung away from the titan. She dropped Sasha after saving her and instead of satisfaction that she saved the potato girl, she was mad at herself. If only Sasha ran, if only the potato girl didn't stare helplessly at the Armored Titan then she wouldn't have done that!

"Why weren't you running?" she asked as calmly as she can.

"ANNIE! Oh my gosh thank you, thank you!" Sasha was about to hug her but Annie steps back. _Does she plan on attacking me?_ "Geez, it's only a hug!" _A hug? What for?_

Sasha gave her the warm hug. "W- What for?" she asked. Her father usually give hugs when he says goodbye or when he apologizes.

"You saved me of course! I know that you're busy with the Military Police now but you still came! Wait, what is the MP doing here?"

"The Survey Corps called for some reinforcements. Most recruits are sent here to help." Annie replied.

"Oh is that so?"

"Ye—" before Annie could finish her reply, Sasha gave her another bear hug. _Why? Isn't she done thanking me already? What's this for?_ Sasha only stopped when they heard the others screaming for help.

"Someone needs help. We should go and help them!" Annie was confused with the potato girl. Earlier she was afraid and now she's acting like nothing happened. "Hey what's wrong?"

"Oh uh," _quick Annie, come up with something!_ "You should get a gear first. You can't fight without it."

Sasha chuckled. Right.

"Yeah. But we need to save Connie! He and Hannah went to the left. That big titan probably went after them!" _R- Right. REINER!_

Annie wasted no time and grabbed Sasha, dropping her with the rest of the MP for protection and recovery while she went in search for Connie and Hannah. And Reiner.


	10. Chapter IX: Who Am I Protecting?

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER TEN: WHO AM I PROTECTING?  
** While searching, she was startled to find Marco holding on her boot.

"P- Please help me…" he begged as tears pour down his eyes. "Please…"

"Marco?"

She looks behind Marco seeing Bertholdt with a killing intent in his eyes, his blades covered in blood. _Was it Marco's blood?_ Then she looks back at Marco.

"Annie.. please save me… Bertholdt, he- he and Reiner.. they're on the titan's side! I saw them! I saw one of them turn into a titan!" Marco tells her. "Please you have to believe me!"

Annie was nervous now… she was about to choose once again which side she's on.

"Annie, we can't let him live." Bertholdt tells her. "Kill him."

"Annie what is he saying?!" Marco himself was afraid. If what Bertholdt is saying is true, then he's surrounded by people who will kill him. "You're not one of them are you?! Are you?!"

"Annie!" Bertholdt shouts at her. "If you can't then I'll do it but I have to know… if you're still the Annie I once knew."

The small blonde couldn't move from where she stood. Is this really happening right now?! Why does it have to be her again?! Why couldn't Marco have found Jean instead?!

Before she knew it, Bertholdt grabs Annie away from Marco, kicking Marco behind as titans arrived.

"NO! PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE! I- I PROMISE NOT TO TELL ANYONE!" Marco pleaded as titans came to eat him.

"Bertholdt—"

"Don't listen to him!"

Escaping from Bertholdt's grasp, she jumps back to kill the titans eating Marco, once they were all gone, she checked to see if Marco was still alive… but he was already dead.

Bertholdt came back behind her with a disappointed look in his face.

"Annie… you could've left him."

"You could've blown your cover. If anyone saw you—"

"No one is here." Hurt and betrayed by her response, he left.

When she found Reiner, he was sitting by one of the burning houses with an unconscious Connie and Hannah beside him.

She hurried to see if they're okay and was glad to see them unharmed. However, she was surprised to receive a hit from an enraged Reiner.

"Which side are you really on?!" he shouts.

"Reiner, I can explain—!"

"You sabotage Bertholdt's attack and now mine?!" with a second hit in the face, she fell backwards and Reiner stopped. Sighing and keeping himself calm. "If he were here, he'd beat you endlessly."

"I know…"

"Then why are you doing this? You're not just betraying _him_ you know? You're betraying us!"

"I- I don't know Reiner! I can't explain it! These people… they've been so kind and it's like living a life that we dreamed for!"

Reiner knelt down to grab her by her jacket, "You think Bertholdt and I are comfortable hanging out with these people?! We have to play it safe! We shouldn't—not even one bit—feel anything towards these people, do you understand?!"

"I'm sorry…" when Annie began to cry, Reiner pulled her head to him, burying her face to his chest and let her cry silently on him.

"I'm sorry too." He said, calmly now. "It's just… if one of us fails then this mission is likely to fail. And none of us gets to see home."

Annie cried on Reiner's chest with Reiner comforting her, patting her in the head and back. It lasted for a while before Reiner knocks her off, carrying her, Connie and Hannah back to the infirmary later on.

When she woke up, she was in the corner while everyone was busy being treated and the others asleep and resting. She leaned on the wall and stared at her hands… she haven't done anything so far to contribute to her hometown.

 _I'm a traitor…_

In anger she hits the walls repeatedly.

 _Bring back Annie! Why am I being like this?! Bertholdt… Reiner… I'm sorry!_

"Hey, don't do that." Rico tells her when she saw Annie hitting the walls. "If you want to throw a fit, do it outside and kill some titans. If you hurt yourself then you're not helping anyone or yourself."

Annie studied the new arrival, seeing she's wearing a Garrison's uniform.

"Give me your hands." Rico says and takes Annie's hands to treat it. Annie grunts shortly as Rico treated her wounds. "There."

"You're not a Military Police." Annie says.

"So? It's still my job to protect everyone who are inside these walls. It's part of my job." Rico tells her and stood up after treating Annie. "It takes a toll on you to stand brave in front of others, that's why don't be afraid to show your weak side every now and then."

When Rico left, Annie sighed and rested her back and head on the wall behind her.

Maybe that Garrison soldier was right… she needed to let it out at some point. But still… she had to… she will still have to…

"You alright?" Armin asked as soon as he saw her. Annie knew she had to wear her mask on.

"Should I answer the question or isn't my appearance enough?"

"Sasha's been telling people how you saved her back there. You were amazing."

Annie didn't know if she was to be proud of it… when it's the reason why she, Bertholdt and Reiner are falling apart.

"It's part of my job, that's all." Maybe having a talk with that Garrison soldier wasn't bad at all.

"The Military Police also said you separated from the squad as soon as you heard familiar screams. You recognized Sasha and Connie's voices and so you went to help them. Even if you're part of the MP, you'll always be one of us."

With those words, he stood up to help the others.

 _Always be one of us, huh? What a joke! I… I've never been one of you. Neither is Reiner or Bertholdt…_

Curling herself in the corner, her hands formed to fists and her nails digging into her palms.

 _No matter what happes… I… will uphold the mission._

"I still have to… kill you all."

The following day, Annie was back to live her MP life, bored as usual. Until she heard that MP were needed to prepare for their security program for the upcoming feast for the success of protecting Wall Maria.

Annie knew at once that it was for Eren and the rest of the 104th Squad. And that would mean seeing Armin again.

The small blonde hid herself in the corner in the shadows, watching over the people while her bruises were healing. A safe place to heal.

But then Armin approached her, she turned away to keep her healing state from him.

 _What am I supposed to cover my face with?!_

"Have you seen Eren?" he asked.

"No."

"Even if we're here in the Inner City, you're still aloof, huh?" _I can't have this conversation right now Armin!_

"On second thought, I think I saw your friend talking with the Survey Corps captain." But it had an opposite effect on Armin. He walks closer and she moves away. He grabbed her by the shoulder to force her to face him seeing fresh bruises on her face. Immediately, Annie shifted her focus on healing to her hands instead. "Stop bothering me!"

"Is the Military Police hurting you?" he asked.

"No." _please just go._

"Then where'd you get those—" _I had this since yesterday!_

"We're not comrades anymore, Armin. I do't care what happens to you and I don't want you caring what happens to me." _Please just go, Armin!_

When Armin left, Annie was able to breathe with ease, only later to be bothered by Eren.

"Why do you keep hurting mu friend?" he asked.

 _One person after another, are you kidding me?!_

"Why does he keep bothering me?"

"I asked you first."

"Didn't I already gave you an answer? He was bothering me." She said and took a step back as group of nobles surrounded Eren.

She thought Eren would put up a fight with her so its best to take off before it was too late.

Annie had to stay in one spot where no one would see her. Armin, Eren, Reiner, Bertholdt… she can't show her face to them right now. So staying in the shadows was best.

Everything was going well. She wished it was actually over. Until…

"JUST WHO DO YOU THINK YOU PEOPLE ARE?! Calling people outside of the walls 'lowlives'?! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO SAY SO?!" Eren yelled.

 _What's he thinking?_

"Calm down, hero, it's not like we're calling you a lowlife like them." Said the one with the soary voice.

"THAT'S BEYOND THE POINT! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL US 'LOWLIVES' WHEN YOU'RE ALL NOTHING BUT USELESS DOGS EATING 'TIL YOU GET ENOUGH OF IT!"

"Hold your tongue, young gentleman!" Who gives you the right to speak that way to us?!" they yelled back at him.

"THE MOMENT I REALIZED HOW FILTHY AND USELESS THE PEOPLE INSIDE THE INNER CITY ARE, THERE'S THIS ANNOYING FEELING OF BETRAYAL FROM YOU! MY COMRADES AND I, THE OTHER SOLDIERS AS WELL, THEY PROTECTED THIS CITY WITH THEIR LIVES—AND NOT EVEN ONE OF YOU APPRECIATES THEM—SO WHO ARE YOU TO SAY ALL THAT WHEN YOU DO NOTHING FOR HUMANITY?!"

Everyone was silent.

Annie weakly and silenly bangs her head to the wall. _When I want peace, you take it from me. When I want to be alone, you come bothering me. But when I want to live like a normal person.. you stand right next to me._

Debating with herself again, she made up her mind to help the brunette boy. If he keeps this up, despite proving a point, he will be the one in trouble.

Eren was about to give the noble a furious punch but she stopped it, for his sake.

"Annie?"

"I don't agree with this dog's way or words," she said and pulls the noble out of Eren's reach, throwing him behind her, "or how he wastes his food when most of the population are starving," she indirectly tells him and everyone more of the greedy deeds the nobles have been doing as she positioned herself to a fighting stance, "but it's my job to protect this lowlife."

"Get out of my way Annie! This stupid noble needs to learn his lesson!" _you still don't get it, do you?_

"How dare you speak to me that way as well!" the noble shouts at Annie. "Don't think I'll forget your face you little wench!"

"You see what I mean?!" Eren wants Annie to realize that the noble deserves a beating but Annie knew from experience, that's not how it works.

 _There is no justice in both our worlds, Eren, but as far as my past experience is concerned, you don't win by beating someone up._

"Exactly, Jaeger. We both know this dog has no manners, but if you hit him, you're no different from him." She says and dropped her stance when she saw a group of MP and Survey running towards them.

Annie observed Eren, seeing that he finally got her message. What a relief.

"GUARDS! Arrest them!"

"JAEGER!" Levi howled. "What the hell are you doing, you stupid recruit?!"

The noble saw Levi and immediately crawled to his side, hugging his leg, dirtying Levi's boot. "Arrest them, soldier! They disrespect me and they attempted to hurt me!"

When Levi saw his dirty hands touching his boot, it triggered some anger in the captain and kicked the noble himself. "I don't remembering protecting some stinking men in robes are part of my job." He says then turns to Eren. "Jaeger, you and I will have a long talk." Then to the rest of the recruits. "All of you are coming with me too. NOW."

Behind Levi were two MP that knew and recognized Annie. "Annie!" Hitch screams. "Do you want to get your head cut off?! Apologize to them immediately!"

Marlowe lowered his head towards the noble that Levi kicked. "Please forgive her. She doesn't know what she's saying." But Annie lifted his head up by pulling on his hair. "Hey Annie!"

"You shouldn't lower your head to someone like him." She says and this enraged the noble more. He was about to slap her but then the commander of the MP caught his hand.

"I'll take it from here." He said.

Annie was summoned to his office where he will sentence a punishent to her because of what happened back at the feast.

"You have exemplary skills, but it doesn't excuse your behavior." He said. "You are suspended from any MP activity, your gear is confiscated as well! Enjoy living a civilian's life for the meantime."

Well, that would be good news for her… she will no longer worry about Hitch dragging her here and there.

Annie was walking towards the pile of dead bodies gathered to be buried but on her way to Marco's, she saw Jean, crying. She could've saved Marco back then… but then again, it wasn't her job to do that.

Annie was later startled by Reiner who tapped her from behind, accidentally hitting a bucket with her leg. In panic, she hurried and left as Jean got out and bumps into Reiner.

"Whoa Jean, You okay?" Reiner played it safe since he didn't have the time to run.

"Did you see someone pass by here?"

"No. Sorry. But hey, I'm on my way to grab some bread. Want to come?"

"No, I'm good. Thanks anyway."

Later Reiner catches up with Annie and inquired what she was doing back there. But Annie refused to answer. He pinned her to the wall when she tried to leave.

"Don't do this Annie. Bertholdt told me what you did for Marco." He says. "I thought I already told you—"

"You did Reiner! You did!" she tells him. "And I'm trying to do what I can to continue with this mission!"

"Well you're not doing anything hard enough!"

When Annie saw Jean, she quickly kneed Reiner and tripping him to lose his balance.

"Training is over." She tells Reiner. At first Reiner was confused and glared at her for a second but then he traced where she was looking.

"You want to practice too?" reiner asked.

"No. I just thought that someone needed help."

"Alright. I'll see you around. I need a break." Reiner says and walked away. Annie was about to follow him.

"Annie!" Jean called. "Why did you choose to join the Military Police?"

It was a sudden question but Annie was all prepared for sudden questionings like this. "Why didn't you?" she asked him instead.

"Because Survey Corps looked something more reasonable to join. They're the frontliners. And why are you asking me? I asked YOU!"

"You used to want to want to join the MP. What was your reason back then?" she ignored him again.

"I told you, it's reasonable to join the Survey so I moved there!"

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine!"

"I want to be away from what's outside the walls. Isn't that your reason as well?" it wasn't her reason… she just had to be away from them because she's gonna have to do something without them knowing. "You find it unreasonable to be a coward when everyone in your squad is going to be a member of the Survey Corps. Some people just get carried away by the flow. Even if they're against it."

Annie never realized all this time, she's been crying for help. For someone to help her… and so far no one got her message.

That night, she went to a corner to drop her wall for once and just cry it all out. She betrayed Bertoldt, Reiner… she just keeps on failing...

Tomorrow is the big day where she will have to take Eren. On their expedition. _This time I have to prove to them I'm on their side. No one is going to get in the way. Not any 104_ _th_ _Squad, not Eren and especially Armin!_

"Annie?"

She didn't want to talk to him. So she kept sobbing. _Why of all times, huh Armin?_

"Annie.. are you alright?"

 _Why won't you just go away?! Why won't all of you just go away! I thought things were easy… but right now you're making it hard for me!_

Armin close the distance between them when Annie didn't respond to him, until slowly he wrapped his arms around her, feeling that she was cold. As if she's been there the whole night. It was a first that Annie didn't push him away.

For some reason, Annie was questioning herself as well. Why won't she leave? Why won't she push him away?

"Annie… I'll always be here."

 _Flashback:_

 _"It takes a toll on you to stand brave in front of others, that's why don't be afraid to show your weak side every now and then."_

 _End_

Annie, who was hugging her knees, moved to cry on Armin's chest. Armin was surprised. It was also a first. It was the first time she showed signs of her 'soft spot' when around someone. She still didn't say a word though.

But Armin allowed Annie to let it all out.

"I'll always be on your side.. no matter what happens." He continued to assure her. "I didn't get it from any book this time."

 _Stop… Armin!_

Annie's grip tightened on Armin's shirt. She wants him to stop. The more he talks, the more she will feel weak about tomorrow's attack. Although it was her fault for allowing to show her weak self to him in the first place.

"Yeah. I love you Annie. That's what I'm trying to say."

Ah there he said it. What Annie feared he would say.

Her fingernails were digging into the cloth of his shirt, reaching his skin. It hurts but Armin can pretend it didn't. For the meantime anyway.

 _I hate myself for letting you get to me this much, Armin._

What the two didn't know is that Bertholdt was watching. He wanted to comfort Annie but it seemed that he was too late.


	11. Chapter X: Female Titan Arc I

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER ELEVEN: FEMALE TITAN ARC I  
** Today is the day, Annie. Show them, which side you're on.

As the Female Titan ran towards the group of Survey shifting formations here and there, she was getting confused which group to find Eren Jaeger. Her target.

The focus was to find Eren and not hurt anyone but then… a shot was fired towards her nape. It was dangerous if she hadn't had the time to defend herself… that's why…

 _Do not hesitate to kill._

Shedding icy part of her skin that she hardened…

 _Flashback:_

 _"You're too soft, Annie-chan."_

 _"When you have to kill, you KILL."_

 _"Which side are you really on?!"_

 _"Talk to us again when the Annie we knew has returned."_

 _"Annie-chan, do you believe in love?"_

 _End_

She threw the ice towards the soldiers who were attacking her, they fell from their horses, dead. _In order to finish this mission… I have to throw away…_

 _Flashback:_

" _You can't win a war without sacrifices."_

 _End_

As bodies of soldiers dropped everywhere—as she killed them—there was a resolve in mind. _I will definitely… win this war and go home!_

"Armin! We can't let it pass through us!" yelled one of the surviving soldiers.

"Fire a flare!" Armin commanded.

Emergency flares were fired to alert the rest of the group about the infiltration of the Female Titan in the formation while brave soldiers hopped off their horses and directed themselves through the 3DMG towards the Female Titan.

To kill the Female Titan.

 _That's right, it's killed or be killed!_

But the Female Titan killed them without a problem. Shedding more titan skin that was hardened, she threw them towards the soldiers in all directions, not noticing Armin was among those soldiers.

"Armin look out!" cried one of the soldiers.

Only then did she realize, Armin was there.

 _ARMIN!_

Before the icicle hits Armin, one of the soldiers dived to save him. Armin and the soldier were on the ground. Armin was terrified at the sight of his dead comrade and crawled away from his savior.

 _Armin, I didn't know you were there… I…_

Armin glanced at the Female Titan, seeing that she was walking towards him with caution. A hand reaching out to him.

When Armin grabbed both his swords and points it at the Female Titan with trembling hands, the Female Titan stopped walking as it hand dropped.

 _N- No. I—I can never face you again, Armin. I'm sorry. I killed everyone with my own hands…_

"Who are you?" Armin asked.

The Female Titan said nothing, well she can't speak but, she stared at him for a moment before turning away. _Armin… you're an opponent I can't bring myself to kill._

When she started to run away, she was attacked by reinforcements.

"STAY AWAY FROM ARMIN!" Jean yelled.

Jean and Reiner slashed at her at the same time, the titan shrieked in pain. There was no way she'd let another attack from them hit her, so she used her arm to block another of Jean's attack. His blade got stuck in the titan's skin as it froze.

"What the—?!"

"Jean!" Armin screamed.

The Female Titan kicked Jean in the stomach, sending him dozens of meters away. _Sorry Jean, you can kill me some other time._ Then Reiner took the chance and attacked her from behind to slash at her nape but with his sluggish movement, she quickly caught up with him.

Defending herself, her nape froze and Reiner's blade was stuck in between.

"Reiner!" Armin screamed when the titan punched him in the gut.

What Armin didn't know is that it was part of the plan, for Reiner to whisper something to her. "Eren's in the forest, with Levi's team."

The Female Titan slowly dropped Reiner's body while he pretends to have lost consciousness but he held on her hand, "by the way… I think I'm falling in love with someone." He said before closing his eyes _I'd like to hear all about it, Reiner._ , then the Female Titan proceeded with giving Armin one last look. _Please stay there._ Then leaving to find Eren.

As the Female Titan caught on with Levi's team, soldiers tried to stop her here and there. And she killed them without hesitation. Like a real titan would.

They were nothing against her.

Their attacks are futile, their sacrifices were in vain, in the end she will get Eren. She didn't even sweat or look at the faces of those soldiers she's killed. She just did it like they were nothing.

She ripped their limbs, tore them to half… it was brutal.

Her eyes were locked on Eren. Provoking him to run after her. For him to turn and fight her, then she'll take the chance and get him.

"Screw it all!" Eren shouts as he shuts his eyes for a moment.

Annie was wrong. Eren wasn't provoked as she thought. She increased her speed and this resulted for Gunther to jump off the squad to face her.

"Gunther, get back!" Levi yells.

"Gunther!" Petra screamed.

"Save humanity." Were Gunther's last words as he fought with the Female Titan head-on, despite knowing that he had no match against her. He needed to sacrifice himself to keep the group moving forward, towards the trap.

 _It's kill or be killed out here, so which one are you?_

Smashing Gunther until he was crushed flat on the ground, she passed by him. His body. He was beyond recognition that's for sure but his sacrifice… was not in vain since the Female Titan was caught in a trap prepared for her.

Forbidden to move because of the hooks and anchors all over her body, Annie was now desperate. After all she's gone through, is this how far she can go?

She tried getting away. She had to! It wasn't over yet!

"It's trying to get away." Eld tells everyone.

"There's no way she can escape it. Even if she's a titan shifter, it won't make a difference. Now hurry up and force her to shed that titan skin and reveal her identity!"

Levi walked towards the Female Titan, with his height, he had to look up at the titan."Tch. Your height doesn't scare me."

 _I had to give up everything to be here! IT CAN'T END NOW!_

He was about to slash at her neck but then the Female Titan began to cry.

"What is it doing?" Eren wondered.

 _IT WON'T END HERE! I STILL HAVE A LONG WAY TO GO! I STILL WANT TO SEE BERTHOLDT AND REINER AGAIN, HAVE THAT TALK I OWE THEM, THIS CAN'T END HERE!_

 _I'M NOT GONNA LET IT END HERE! NOT NOW! NOT NOW THAT I FINALLY DECIDED TO BECOME HUMANITY'S ENEMY! I DON'T CARE IF THEY'RE ALL…_

 _I JUST WANT TO GO HOME AND SEE MY FATHER AGAIN!_

Everyone looked around and heard thunders of footsteps coming nearby and fast.

"LEVI, DON'T LET HER CRY!" Erwin yells when he realized what the Female Titan was doing. Levi glared at the titan and slashed his sword at her but his sword broke into half the moment it made contact with its frozen skin.

 _You're too late to discover my ability, captain!_

"HEICHOU!" Petra screams.

"We're coming!"

As if Levi would need help.

 _I'D RATHER DIE IN THE HANDS OF TITANS THAN DIE IN YOUR HANDS, FOOLS!_

Levi quickly stepped away from her as hundreds of titans who came from all directions arrived to the Female Titan's aid. "DON'T LET HER GET AWAY!" Erwin ordered.

Even with hesitation, the Survey charged towrads the female titan to chop off its limbs so it won't go anywhere but the moment the horde arrived, they were attacked from behind and the female titan used the opportunity to try and break free from the hooks anchored in its body.

"You're not going anywhere!" Levi yelled and 'reloaded' his broken blade to a new one.

The female titan stared back at him, giving him a mocking a stare that pissed him off as she allowed herself to be surrounded by the titans she called. She underestimated him too much.

To think that he wasn't gonna go after her, she was wrong.

Levi dashed towards her with courage and swung his sword to cut her head off but was only able to graze her titan skin until it came off, revealing her human flesh, her cheek, and partly the skin below her eyes. He wanted to do more than that…

But it was too risky to dive in further and so he retreated and watched as the titans ate the female titan.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Hanji yells.

Escaping the horde of titans with a Survey cloak over her to cover her identity, she limped as she walk away from the scene.

 _Did I fail?_

 _I'm a failure, aren't I?_

 _I'm sorry Father, I guess I wasn't really coming home after all… ever since I've been sent here in Paradis Island, all I've ever done was compromise and jeopardize this mission… I'm a fool!_

Blood dripped from her wounds even if she were healing.

"Hey! Is anybody there! I know where to get help!" she heard a voice.

 _That voice… could it be?_

"Just stay put soldier! I'm coming!" _T- That's Eren!_ "Hey, the rest of the army is back there. Come on I'll lead you to safety. Are you… okay?"

Annie stopped walking, a scary smirk forming in her face. _I guess I'm not the only fool around here._

"I know not everyone feels safe with me. But I'm on humanity's side." Eren says.

 _Fight with me, Eren._

She thought as she lifted her hand to her mouth, biting on it until her newly regenerated hand bled once more as she turned into a Female Titan.

"YOU! HOW COULD YOU BETRAY HUMANITY?!" Eren began to yell. "I want to side with you... I'm happy to know I'm not alone.. BUT WHAT YOU DID TO HUMANITY IS UNFORGIVABLE! YOU KILLED YOUR OWN KIND AS IF YOU WEREN'T HUMAN! Or maybe YOU LEFT HUMANITY ALREADY?!"

 _That's a sharp guess, Jaeger._

 _I DID left my humanity! For the sake of going home again… and you… you are my way home!_

Walking towards Eren, Eren jumped backwards.

"I'm not going to let you win!" he says, and bit the flesh of this thumb to turn himself into a titan as well.

But as the two fought, she easily beat Eren even if Eren keeps on getting back up.

 _Why am I not happy with this? Why am I not happy with winning against him?_

She asked herself, and the answers flashed right through her eyes. Memories with everyone… _everyone…_ Stepping aside to dodge Eren's attack, she didn't expect for Eren to spin around and send her a kick that she blocked with one of her arms.

Locking her arms around his leg, she's about to send him flying.

 _I will take you home with me, EREN!_

 _AND I WILL NOT LET MY ATTACHMENT TO THESE PEOPLE GET THE BEST OF ME!_

When Eren was slowly getting back on his feet after being thrown to a tree, he copied a pose. Annie's. He was copying her? He only saw it once! Just once!

Landing a good hit on the female titan's face, the female titan stumbled backwards.

 _-"Why do you keep hurting my friend?"-_

 _Like I want to hurt him!_ Eren took the chance and jumped on her but the female titan rolled to the side, letting Eren jump to the ground beside her instead.

 _-"Thank you for saving me, Annie!"-_

With quick movement, she slides her leg to trip Eren and he did.

 _-"What's wrong? Aren't we friends?"-_

The female titan hardened its skin on her hand to create a sharp weapon and struck it on the attack titan's arms.

 _-"It's not bad to drop your shield every now and then."-_

Shedding more hardened titan skin, she placed it on his wrists to finally pin him down. Eren tried to move but he couldn't.

 _If I kill you now will it be the end, Eren?! Will my suffering end?! Or will yours?!_

 _-"Eren Jaeger! I WANT TO RELEASE HUMANITY FROM THIS ROTTEN PRISON BY KILLING ALL THE TITANS THAT LIVE IN THIS WORLD!"-_

For that one moment, the female titan hesitated to kill him. The icicle stopped right before it was plunged into him.

 _Am I still worth saving, Eren? Will you still release me from the prison that holds me?_

"EREN!"

Upon Mikasa's arrival, she was quick to cut the female's titan arm off. With Levi right behind her, Annie was trouble. He rushed to the female titan's titan with a mischievous grin. "We meet again, you filth." He said and swings but his blades to cut her head and neck but the female titan hardened its skin before Levi's blades could go anywhere deeper.

But Levi already knew that trick.

Quickly 'reloading', he swung his sword at her leg to prevent her from running. Just one more cut and she's as good as gone. The female titan, using her remaining arm, grabbed one of his blades and broke it in half.

Levi takes a step back with one blade remaining. The female titan shed more icicles to throw at him, breaking his last blade until he retreated with Mikasa and Eren.

 _I guess I wasn't worth the save…_

She thought to herself as she lay down and crawled out of her titan skin with one arm.

Out of exhaustion, she lost consciousness. Bertholdt arrives to her aid, seeing how injured she was. He was angry at how terrible and critical her condition was but he decided to carry her to safety.

He was carrying her until they arrived to a safe spot, carefully putting down the small blonde on the soft grass and leans her body to a tree as her wounds slowly heal.

"What were you thinking? You didn't follow the plan."

The plan was for her to take Eren and rendezvous with Bertholdt and Reiner but the problem was, neither Reiner or Annie showed up.

He watched as her missing limbs slowly recover. He held on her warm hand that just regenerated then looks up at her cheek and neck where Levi had cut her twice.

Bertholdt slides his fingers on the part where the cut used to be before sighing deeply. He sits down in front of her and waited until she had fully recovered.

"You'll be alright. I promise. I'll be right here." He says softly but then he heard footsteps coming.

"My, my, looks like Annie-chan is in a mess." Zeke said as he scratched the back of his head when he saw Annie. "It's going to take long before she heals. It's a good thing she got suspended in the MP or else she'll miss patrol duty."

"What are you doing here?" Bertholdt asked as he puts himself in between Annie and Zeke.

"Obviously to check up on you four. Although I already heard that Marcel died before anything else." He says with a smile on his face.

"Why are you happy? Someone just died!"

"Oh sorry, I couldn't help it. His death was so tragic that it amuses me." He says to purposely enrage Bertholdt. But he kept calm. There was no say he'll win against Zeke in a fight. "Listen to me Bertholdt, a lot of things are happening and you don't see it. Or you simply choose to ignore it."

"We're almost there! We found the Attack Titan and soon we will find the Coordinate. Just give us more time!" but Bertholdt misunderstood.

"No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Reiner and Annie's behavior lately."

"What?"

"Aren't they too attached with these people lately?" Zeke points out and Bertholdt was left thinking. "Aren't you being left out?"

"I- It's part of the plan to blend in!"

"Didn't you notice how Annie-chan hesitated to kill the Attack Titan back there?" he continued. He knew Bertholdt was watching and there was no way that he didn't notice it. "Could it be that she has feelings for him?"

"N- No that's not true! Annie… Annie's gotten real close with Armin." Bertholdt muttered when he realized it just now.

"Oh so there's a different boy." He teased and walked passed Bertholdt and reach Annie, laying his hand on the crown of her head before sliding down to her regenerating wound in the face. "I take it her weak resolve got weaker because of him."

"N- Now that you mentioned it… she did try to save Marco back then…" Bertholdt said as he slowly connects the dots together. "She started doing strange things every time she talks with him."

"Well, I doubt Reiner is different then. Since he also didn't show up at the rendezvous point." He brought it up on purpose, he wanted Bertholdt to be angry with the people that Annie and Reiner are attached to.

"E- Even Reiner?"

"Didn't you notice?" he asked almost like a joke. His hand now sliding to the small blonde's neck where the wound was again slowly healing.

Bertholdt smacked his hand away when he noticed.

"I don't care what you say! They can fall in love if they want to!" he says but Zeke laughed.

"And to think that you're actually in love with Annie-chan, was I wrong?" he says. "Or are you acting like a saint?"

"They know their job. We all have something to do and we will do it even with these people… that they're attached to."

"Oh but the way I see it, they are getting distracted. And trust me, distraction leads to death in battle."

Zeke stretched his arms and begins to walk away.

"In war, if you want to win, there are sacrifices you have to make." He says. "First, you throw away your humanity. Second… you use your opponent's humanity against them."


	12. Chapter XI: Female Titan Arc II

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN SHINGEKI NO KYOJIN.**

Date Uploaded: August 22, 2017- Tuesday.

Note: Advanced apologies for the OOC's.

 **I've delayed this spin-off too long now. I decided that I will end the fic without waiting for the entirety of the manga. It's hard to play the waiting game. Sorry. So now I'm just gonna make up stuff for the past, count this as warning, this is NOT based on the manga or anime. Sorry I just can't wait. I'll make up stuff.**

 **If you don't agree, then stop here. For those who doesn't care, then read on!**

 **Edited: I'M SORRY I'M TOO LAZY TO RE-EDIT THE DRAFTS I TYPED SINCE MAY. I LOST IT AND NOW FOUND IT. IT'S OFF FROM THE WARRIOR ARC IN THE MANGA SO IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN STOP RIGHT HERE, IF YOU DON'T CARE THEN ENJOY.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER TWELVE: FEMALE TITAN ARC II  
** "Armin… did you mean what you said… when you confessed?"

"Yes. I meant it… but I have to do this."

 _Flashback:_

 _Bertholdt was carrying Annie home when she had finally healed. It wasn't safe to go there without being healed. When he noticed she was awake, it was time for a talk._

 _"How are you feeling?" he asked._

 _"I can't move. My body hurts." She replied when she tried to move. Bertholdt was carrying her behind his back._

 _"Listen Annie… I know I said this before, I would never hurt you but if time comes to push… but, will you hurt me in return?"_

 _"What?" her voice sounded tired._

 _"Recently, before our plan to retrieve Eren, you've been protecting them… if time comes… will you fight against me? Will you be alright hurting me?"_

 _"Bertholdt—"_

 _"Forget it. It's a selfish thing of me to ask when you had just recovered." He said and Annie hits his back weakly._

 _"Idiot… I can never do that to you or Reiner." She says. He felt that he lay her head on his back again. Bertholdt was relieved but…_

 _"Then if you were to choose between Armin and I… would you— no. I haven't told you yet but, I love you, Annie." he waited for a response but she probably fell asleep again. He smiled nonetheless. "You always fall asleep when I want to confess to you, you know?"_

 _End_

"Annie, please…" Armin pleads since Annie didn't want to go inside the tunnel.

"I trust you Armin. But this is as far as my trust goes." Annie was about to go back but she was surprise to find herself tackled by a group of men quickly wrapping ropes around her body, arms and legs. Another man from behind puts a cloth in her mouth before pinning her down.

"Please be careful!" Armin tells them.

Annie wasn't surprised. She knew that if she were to let Armin live back then… that he'd know of her true identity and now she's paid the price.

To be betrayed by them. By him.

"Good job Arlert. Now, to test this little chemical on her. Make sure the roles are tight around her."

 _Flashback:_

 _Arriving in Annie's room, Bertholdt puts her in bed, sitting at the edge of the bed after putting a blanket over her. He didn't want to leave yet… he still wanted to talk._

 _"Annie.. no matter what happens.. please know I'm on your side too. Not just him." He muttered. "Give me a chance. When this is all over, we can go home together…"_

 _End_

Hanji knelt close to Annie to inject a syringe to her.

 _-"Promise me you'll come home, Annie."-_

 _This isn't over yet…_

But before Hanji could do so, she noticed the ring on Annie's finger and that she had scratched herself with the pointy part of the ring. "EVERYBODY GET BACK!"

Annie once again turned into the female titan.

"GET HER!" Hanji ordered.

"Eren! Eren you need to fight her!"

 _I can't do this anymore… I… I want to go home… I just want everything to be over…_

While running towards the walls, pulled on the female titan's ankle when he missed to tackle her. He crawled on top of the titan and hits it repeatedly in the face.

With no mercy, the female titan's blood splattered all over the attack titan. Annie used all that blood as decoy to escape his grasp. Since he was too caught up with hitting endlessly, he wouldn't notice a thing for sure.

"Eren! Eren she's getting away!"

When Annie realized that Eren was right behind her again, she stopped running to send the attack titan a surprise kick in his haw. It cracked. The attack titan stumbled a little bit on his knees but he got back up again. The female titan continued her assault, sending the attack titan an uppercut this time.

"EREN! Eren get up!"

 _I want to go home, Eren! Why won't you let me be?!_

Angrily, the female titan stomped on the attack titan's leg and eren's titan form cried in agony, worrying Armin.

"EREN!" Armin screamed.

 _-"Why do you keep hurting my friend?"-_

 _Armin… I wish I never met you…_

The female titan stopped and continued to run towards the walls. This time, Mikasa was the one who chased her. "I'm not letting you get away!"

Mikasa was swift and almost invincible, she wounds the female titan with swift cuts but the female titan ignored it and continued to head for the walls and jumped towards it to climb.

 _I won't get caught! I won't let you!_

 _I didn't say it out loud but I made a promise… I made a promise to return home no matter what! Reiner, Bertholdt… you can continue this mission without me. You don't need a coward like me!_

But the attack titan jumped towards her, grabbing her ankle and both of them fell back on the ground. The female titan fell first and Eren on top of her.

 _Father!_

In anger, the attack titan held on to her neck, choking her hwile his other fist hitting on her left cheek. It was so strong that the regeneration doesn't help in any way.

- _"Promise me, you'll come home, Annie."-_

When Eren felt that the female titan's struggle has gone weak, he stopped choking and continued to beat the female titan, hitting its face and head repeatedly.

- _"Even if the whole world is your enemy. I will always be on your side."-_

"EREN STOP IT!"

"Oi brat that's enough, we need her alive!"

 _I guess a daughter takes after her father… a coward. Are you proud of me, father? I am a coward, just like you._

The attack titan continued to bash the female titan with unknown anger pumping him to do this. When he stopped and rared, everyone seemed relieved, but that's not the end of it. The attack titan began to bite on the female titan's neck, pulling it's skin off.

"EREN!"

The attack titan began to bite down on her human skin while the female titan started to squirm underneath him, shrieking in pain.

"STOP IT TITAN! She's calling for titans!"

For a short moment that the attack titan had a taste of her flesh, the two shared memories together. Short memories about what's currently on their minds. Eren being able to see Annie's childhood with her father and Annie seeing Eren's anger for her betrayal and the deaths of all humans.

Getting back to her senses, the female titan hardened her fist and began to hit the side of the attack titan's face so he'd let go.

Once she's free, she continued to climb the walls.

 _I really want to go home but I don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore…_

 _-"Which side are you on?!"-_

 _-"We're friends, aren't we?"-_

 _-"You'll always belong with us."-_

 _-"We'll grow old together!"-_

 _-"Yes, I love you, Annie."-_

 _I see…_

"GET OUT OF THE WAY YOU BRAT!" As soon as Annie had reached the top of the walls, she stopped her struggle to run and escape. She knew what had to do as slowly she was succumbed by the ice that she made around herself.

The next day that Annie was able to see light again, was when…

"…but how can you expect me to do that if you won't let me defend you! If you don't tell me anything!"

Right behind Armin, was someone who was sent to kill him… she sensed it. That murderous intent from behind Armin and she knew she had to kill him before he kills Armin. But before she could dirty her hands, the soldier killed himself.

"Annie.. you.."

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"C- Commander?"

"I understand your resolve to save this girl.. but don't you think there's also this possibility that her humanity has long ago left her? What do you still have to say for this?"

 _Armin, I went as far as leaving everything behind, betraying everyone in my past for you. Now I want to know… how far you'll go for me in return._

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"You seem to have misunderstand your situation, Ms. Leonhardt. You're a prisoner here. No one knows you're here but us. No one will hear of this conversation but us. Every soldier in this room, excluding Arlert, treats you as an enemy. And unless you tell us something useful.. you. Will. Die."

Annie kept her eyes locked on Erwin's, not wanting to look around.

She knows that one of them has to be on Zeke's side. To assure if her loyalty is affected after the attempt to murder Armin earlier… it was one of those usual tests she had to go through when she was young.

If she tells Erwin or anyone else about anything… they're all as good as dead.

"A soldier with this response is no doubt loyal to who she works for. I believe she didn't abandon the side of her that you see, Armin. But it's her loyalty to those who sent her here is what's making her an enemy."

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"You can start trusting me now." Armin said and placed his hands over Annie's hands to ease te anger inside her. "No matter what, I will be on your side. Before and after you prove your innocence.. you can count on me, not to betray you. I promise!"

 _Thank you Armin… for some reason, I feel like the void in my heart was gone._

"Thank you. I guess I've decided what to do now."

 _I will definitely protect you. No matter what, I will also be on your side._ _I promise._

But while Annie was thinking these things, she failed to notice that the blonde boy was now pressing his lips to hers. An ephemeral kiss that quickly stopped when Armin realized what he had done.

"E- Erm, forgive me! I didn't know what came to me!"

Annie wasn't sure how to react, and the only thing she did was touch her lips that had physical contact with the boy, blushing deeply because of his earlier deed.

"AH! I'm really sorry!" Armin apologized, as he himself was blushing.

"Uh no, it's uhm…" She says, ignoring the fact that she was blushing as well. She dropped her hand and tried to show him she was alright. "It's okay."

"Oh whew."

With that, Annie was surprised to find Armin continuing the kiss. She fainted when she realized he continued with it.

"H- Hey Annie you said it was okay! Hey wake up!"

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Meanwhile, Annie's friends were… troubled.

"But she cried in his arms! She's never shown this side to us, did she?!"

"N- No." Reiner hesitated to answer. He lied. He couldn't tell Bertholdt, seeing how jealous he is at the moment.

"Then why?! Why to HIM?!"

"Bert.. if it's gonna help make you feel better, I'll try to contact someone to find out how she's holding up in prison., okay? And you're going to be darned surprise to find out that she's still sleeping in that crytal of hers!"

What Reiner was missing out in this is that Zeke had something to do with Bertholdt's odd behavior.

"You're probably right."

"Now get a goodnight's sleep."

"Thank you, Reiner."


	13. AN

p style="text-align: center;"strongHumans VS Titans: Volume 1 /stronghas a spin-off called strongHumans VS Titans: Little Soldiers/strong and the thing is, it may be confusing to read the spin-off so I have two suggestions how you're going to understand it. First, you read Volume 1 first then the spin-off or you open both fics at the same time./p  
p style="text-align: center;"The strongLittle Soldiers/strong one is Annie's side of the story in Annie's perspective so some chapters there are more or less copy-paste from some scenes where Annie is concerned in Volume 1. Some scenes is the part where she disappears will finally be explained./p  
p style="text-align: center;"em*This is in case you decided to read strongLittle Soldiers/strong and not get it./em/p 


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